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MEMORIES OF THE 
KAISER'S COURT 




9^¥^U4:'^^' r^ 



77 



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MEMORIES OF THE 
KAISER'S COURT 



ANNE TOPHAM 



WITH SIXTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS 



NEW YORK 
DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY 

1914 






11^ 



1^ 



CONTENTS 



I. ARRIVAL AT THE PRUSSIAN COURT . . I 

II. HOMBURG-VOR-DER-HOHE .... 22 

III. THE NEW PALACE ..... 46 

IV. DIVERSIONS OF THE KAISER'S DAUGHTER . 66 
V. CHRISTMAS AT COURT .... 88 

VI. BERLIN SCHLOSS . . . . . HO 

VII. DONAU-ESCHINGEN AND METZ . . . I29 

VIII. EDUCATION . 149 

IX. THE BAUERN-HAUS AND SCHRIPPEN-FEST . 163 

X. ROYAL WEDDINGS 184 

XI. WILHELMSHOHE 203 

XII. CADINEN ....... 222 

XIII. ROMINTEN 243 

XIV. THE KAISER AND KAISERIN . . . 262 
XV. CONCLUSION . . . . . .282 

INDEX 305 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



I 



The German Emperor in English Admiral's Uniform 

(Photo, E. Bieber, Berlin.) frontispiece 

FACING PAGE 

The Kaiser's Daughter, Princess Victoria Louise 

(now Duchess of Brunswick) at the , ge of Nine i6 

(Photo, T. H. Voigt, Homburg.) 

Augusta Victoria, German Empress, with her Daughter 26 

(Photo, Sandau, Berlin.) 

The Emperor and Empress with Members of their 

Family, taken at the New Palace, Wildpark . 56 

(Photo, Selle and Kuntze, Potsdam.) 

The Marmor Palais, near Potsdam .... 68 

(Photo, Neue Photographische Gesellschaft, Berlin.) 

The Kaiser and his Two Eldest Grandsons, Princes 

Wilhelm and Louis Ferdinand of Prussia . . 96 

(Photo, SeUe and Kuntze, Potsdam.) 

The Emperor and Empress, their Daughter and the 

Three Sons of the Crown Prince . . . 122 

(Photo, Selle and Kimtze, Potsdam.) 

The Kaiser's Hunting-lodge at Rominten, East 

Prussia ........ 142 

The Crown Prince and his Heir, Prince Wilhelm . 156 

(Photo, Selle and Kuntze, Potsdam.) 

The Kaiser and his Eldest Grandson . . . 172 

(Photo, Selle and Kuntze, Potsdam.) 

The Bridal Carriage, used at the State Entry into 

Berlin of all Royal Brides . . . .190 

(Photo, Franz Kuhn, Berlin.) 
DiNING-HALL AT ROMINTEN, HUNG WITH TrOPHIES FALLEN 

TO THE Emperor's Gun ..... 222 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS vii 

FACING PAGE 

The Kaiser examining Antlers. Behind him stands 

Prince Dohna of Schlobitten .... 250 

(Photo, A. Topham.) 

The Crown Prince and Princess with their Four 
Sons, Princes Wilhelm, Louis Ferdinand, Hubertus, 

AND FrIEDRICH ....... 280 

(Photo, E. Bieber, Berlin.) 

The Emperor's Daughter, taken on the Day when 

she was MADE COLONEL OF THE "DeATH's HeaD " 

Hussars ........ 298 

(Photo, A, Topham.) 

The Duke and DuChess of Brunswick . . . 302 

(Photo, T. H. Voigt, Frankfort.) 



MEMORIES OF THE 
KAISER'S COURT 

CHAPTER I 

ARRIVAL AT THE PRUSSIAN COURT 

TOWARDS the middle of August 1902, on 
a very hot, dusty, suffocating day, I was 
travelHng, the prey of various apprehen- 
sions, to the town of Homburg-vor-der-Hohe, 
/where the Prussian Court was at that time in 
temporary residence. 

Thither I had been summoned, to join it in the 
capacity of resident Enghsh teacher to the young 
nine-year-old Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia, 
only daughter of the Emperor and Empress of 
Germany. 

A stormy night-passage of eight hours on the 
North Sea, followed by a long train-journey 
through stifling heat lasting till live o'clock in 
the afternoon, naturally affects any one's spiritual 
buoyancy, and it was with a distinct feeling of 
depression that I at last descended from the train 
on to the platform of Homburg station. 

I confidently expected that a carriage would 
be waiting for me, but nothing in the least re- 



2 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

sembling a royal equipage is to be seen. There 
is only a row of those shabby, time-worn, open 
droschkies, harnessed to attenuated, weary-look- 
ing horses, which, even since the advent of the 
"taxi" into the social conditions of the Father- 
land, still maintain a precarious, struggling exist- 
ence in most German towns. 

I am a helpless stranger, with a very limited 
knowledge of the German language as applied to 
porters and cabmen, and consequently very much 
at the mercy of these functionaries. 

As my luggage is plainly addressed to the 
" Konigliches Schloss," the group of officials who 
surround me, all talking together in strident 
tones, are most anxious that I should get there 
as soon as possible. I manage to convey to them 
my idea that a carriage will probably be coming 
for me soon, and after a few minutes' interval of 
waiting one porter obligingly goes outside the 
station to look up the long street for the missing 
vehicle ; but he returns sadly shaking his head. 

" Kein Wagen," he murmurs with an air of 
finality ; and in spite of my misgivings they all fall 
upon my various possessions and put them into 
the oldest and most decrepit of the droschkies — 
the only one left — with a horse to correspond, and 
a driver who strikes the last note in deplorable 
shabbiness and stupidity. No one who has not 
travelled in German trains fed with German coal 
can appreciate the sheer discomfort and misery 
caused by this wretched fuel, which vomits forth 
clouds of thick black smoke, laden with solid, 
sooty particles, having a fatal affinity for the 
features of the passengers. I have assimilated 



ARRIVAL AT THE PRUSSIAN COURT 3 

to myself a certain amount of this invariable 
accompaniment of Continental travel, and am 
uncomfortably conscious of the fact. Neither is 
it thus — in a wretched droschky, with my luggage 
piled drunkenly around me at various untidy, 
ill-fitting angles — that I had dreamed of entering 
the precincts of royalty. 

Later on I grew callous in this respect and 
perceived that I had been unduly sensitive over 
a small matter ; but my feelings on this important 
occasion were, it must be admitted, acutely miser- 
able. One knows instinctively that a first im- 
pression counts for a good deal. 

Up the long Louisen-strasse and past the 
Kurhaus we rattle over the cobble-stones of past 
ages with which so many German towns are paved, 
and down a side-street I catch a glimpse of a 
smart-looking brougham with a footman sitting 
beside the coachman on the box, driving quickly 
in the direction from which we have come. I am 
convinced that it is the carriage meant for me, 
and would like to go back again to the station; 
but all attempts to convey my meaning to the 
egregious person whose back obscures my view 
are unavailing. He shrugs his shoulders, whips 
up his horse, utters guttural incomprehensible 
ejaculations, and points to a large old building 
in front of us before whose open gates a sentry 
is pacing. The sentry looks surprised and hesi- 
tates, the animal in the shafts crawls through 
the gateway and comes to a sudden halt in the 
midst of a big paved courtyard, surrounded by 
open windows and containing in one angle a 
pleasant flower-garden of green turf and climb- 



4 MEMORIES OF illE K„\1SERS COURT 
iiu ^r -inums. We are in the Roj^ Homburg 

Scii: .-<.<. 

A beautiful sun-bathed silence pre\'ails every- 
where. Through a gateway oppc^te, leading into 
a second court-\*ard, a foimtain can be heard 
{dashing gently with occasicmal intermittent hesi- 
tations and precipitations, while a pigeon croons 
slumberously at inter\-als on the ro. f Otherwise 
it seems an absolutely deserted spot. There is 
nothing to indicate before which of the \'arious 
doors, which stand half open to the light and air, 
I ou^t to be set down. 

The driver a^aDnnes a round-shouldered, blinking, 
vacuous attitude of masterly inacti\-ity, while his 
hoise tabes a nap after his exertions. I descoid 
frmn the hateful vehicle and wonder what I ought 
to do next Between heat, exasperation and 
incertitude, added to the fatigues of travel, I am 
in a parlous condition, one fume and fret of weari- 
ness and desperation. 

Preseotly from under the archway, interposing 
his bulk between me and the glancing sunhght, 
comes walking slowly a gentleman of stat^ 
mien, gaibed in black frock-coat and tail sUk hat. 
He wears the aspect of an Ambassador, and may 
be one for aU I know or care. I fling mysdf into 
the orbit of his path, assembling together with 
beating heart the few fragm«itarv~ bits of Gaman 
that remain with me after the varied emotions 
of the day. I nmrmur sometlung inarticulate 
and wave my hand explanatodty in the direction 
of the siqnne droschky-diiver, Y^io, surrounded 
by my baggage, stiU continues to crouch in obvious 
somnoleoce on his box. 



ARRIVAL AT THE PRUSSIAN COURT 5 

The black-coated functionary may not be a 
diplomat — I subsequently find that he is a i/o/- 
joiirrier, one of those pleasant minor court-officials 
who regulate royal journeys and the small financial 
housekeeping arrangements of royal households 
— but he has the art of seizing a situation at a 
glance. His eye wanders whimsically over the 
luggage, the slumberous droschky-driver and his 
horse. It strikes him, no doubt, as a humorous 
situation. So it would appear to me under 
different circumstances. He answers in polite 
but unintelligible German, wakens the driver, 
directs him to a door in a comer, and rings a bell ; 
a rush of gaitered footmen follows ; something 
kaleidoscopic and swift takes place ; I find myself 
following a servant down a long, cool, bare passage 
decorated with old German prints — up a tiny 
winding staircase into a pleasant, shady room 
looking out over the red roofs of Homburg away 
towards great purple hills against a background 
of pale lemon-coloured sky. 

The quiet, calm beauty of the outlook as seen 
from this high-pitched gabled comer of the quaint 
old Schloss falls soothingly on my tired, travel- 
worn soul. I sink into a funny old-fashioned 
chair covered with a blue spotted chintz which 
has been out of fashion for at least a hundred and 
twenty years, and contemplate the fat, plethoric, 
square sofa and the rest of the furniture, which 
is delightfully old — so old that its ugliness has 
mellowed into something charming and alluring. 
There is a big mirror fixed over a marble-topped 
mahogany chest of drawers in which I catch a 
glimpse of my haggard face; there are various 



MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

mahogany chairs covered with the before-men- 
tioned blue-spotted print ; there is a carpet of 
vivid moss-green. All is very plain and comfort- 
able and old-world, and spotlessly clean and fresh. 
Flowers are on the writing-table which stands in 
the embrasure of the window. 

Soon a pleasant chinking of china is heard 
outside, and a man in a flowing Russian beard 
parted in the middle brings in a tray with tea. 
He bows politely as he enters the room, the bow 
without which no well-trained German servant 
comes into the presence of those whom he serves, 
and deftly arranges the tea-table. He is clad 
in plain dark livery, such as is worn by all the 
Diener-schaft in the royal employment who are 
below the rank of footmen. 

The sight of the teapot and the taste of the tea 
set at rest the doubts I have had whether this 
cheerful beverage would be one of the luxuries I 
should have to renounce permanently on leaving 
England. 

" German people all drink coffee, and if they do 
make tea it's like coloured water," I had been 
assured many times over. That this is true still 
of the great mass of the people my experience in 
many parts of Germany has proved ; but the 
Court buys its very excellent tea direct from a 
big London warehouse and brews it with due 
respect to its peculiar needs. 

A small bedroom, in which my luggage has 
been deposited, leads out of the little sitting-room. 
It contains also the same quaint old-world furni- 
ture, together with a short, squat, solid-looking 
mahogany bedstead with deep wooden sides, 



ARRIVAL AT THE PRUSSIAN COURT 7 

covered with one of those big bags filled with down 
which take the place of an eider-down quilt and 
are so typically German. One sees them hanging 
out of the windows for an airing every morning — 
at hours, it is needless to say, permitted by 
the police. 

I wash away the dust of the journey, change 
and begin to unpack, wondering if my clothes are 
right, if I ought to have had longer or shorter 
trains on my dresses, and wishing somebody would 
come along and explain to me any points that 
might guide my inexperienced steps. 

The departing English teacher whose place I 
am taking has written to me a letter purporting 
to give advice as to wardrobe and etiquette, but 
she has recently become '* engaged," and except 
an impression that white kid gloves are a chief 
necessity of life at court, there is little of practical 
use to be gathered from the vague kindliness of 
her short note. She writes that there is practic- 
ally no etiquette except such as can be " seen at 
a glance," and leaves it at that. 

A knock comes at the door ; a voice, a pleasant, 
cheerful woman's voice, calls my name ; and with 
both hands outstretched in welcome enters a 
tall, middle-aged, smiling person, who introduces 
herself as the lady-in-waiting with whom I have 
been corresponding. She radiates kindness and 
sympathy, is gaiety and charm personified, knows 
exactly how I am feeling — how excited, dubious, 
tired, and worried — and she laughs it all away while 
she stands clasping my hand and shaking it at 
intervals. She is much amused at the description 
of my entry into the Schloss, and explains that a 



8 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 



1 



carriage and luggage-cart had been sent to meet 
me with one of the Empress's own EngUsh-speaking 
footmen, so that everything might be as easy as 
possible ; but there had been a mistake as to the 
time — probably on my part — and as the train was 
very punctual I had been there too soon. 

" And now," she concludes, " you will dine to- 
night with Her Majesty at half-past seven." 

I start back in horror. 

" Yes," she laughs ; *' it is the best opportunity, 
because the Emperor is away and it will be very 
quiet — just a few of the ladies and gentlemen of 
the court ; and it will be quite easy, you know. 
Her Majesty is so kind, so sympathetic — she knows 
how tired you must be — she will not expect you 
to be brilliant ; but when there is a plunge to 
be made," she pointed downwards as to an un- 
fathomable abyss, '* it is better to make it and 
get it over, isn't it ? " 

" Will the Princess be there ? " I ask with the 
calmness of despair. 

" No, not to-night. She is very much excited 
and wanted to come and see you, but is to wait 
until to-morrow. She has been talking all day 
about your coming." 

I wonder dubiously in what aspect I present 
myself to the thoughts of my unknown pupil — 
whether pleasantly or otherwise. 

On looking back, that first dinner at a royal 
table has in it many of the unstable elements of 
a dream, I might almost say of a nightmare. It 
passes confusedly through my mind as a series 
of impressions following each the other with such 
rapidity and lack of cohesion that only the Cubist 



ARRIVAL AT THE PRUSSIAN COURT 9 

or Futurist mind could hope to depict it ade- 
quately. An impression that my frock is not 
quite the right thing, that it is too English and 
not German enough — it was to be a "high" dress, 
said the Countess, as we parted, and mine was 
neckless while the other ladies were clothed right 
up to the ears and chin ; further impressions 
that I am preternaturally dull and stupid, that 
the smile I attempt is obviously artificial, that 
I am an isolated speck of mind surrounded by 
an incomprehensible ocean of German babbling. 

Before dinner I have been solemnly conducted 
by the Countess to the apartments of the Empress, 
wearing one long white kid glove, while the other 
is feverishly crumpled in my hand together with 
a fan, without which even in the coldest weather 
no properly equipped lady can, I learned, be 
considered fit to appear before royalty. An 
elderly footman shows us into a little ante-room 
furnished in brilliant yellow satin, and here we 
sit and wait, chatting in the desultory, half- 
hearted manner of people who expect every 
moment to be interrupted. 

It is some ten minutes or so before a door leading 
into an inner apartment is opened and we are 
ushered in. 

" You will kiss Her Majesty's hand," whispers 
the Countess with a reassuring smile as she passes 
on in front of me. 

The Empress is sitting on a sofa, with a stick 
beside her, for she has had the misfortune to sprain 
her ankle rather severely some days before, and 
she receives us with a pleasant, gentle smile and a 
look which reveals at once the fact that she herself 



10 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 



1 



is feeling a slight embarrassment. I suppose the 
Countess presents me to Her Majesty — I have no 
definite recollection of it — but at any rate she 
disappears and leaves us alone together. I bend 
and kiss the outstretched hand, and feel already 
that this is going to be quite a pleasant interview, 
so eminently sympathetic and kindly reassuring is 
the face that smiles into mine with a certain shy 
diifidence. 

I find myself sitting in a chair talking easily 
and without restraint to a mother about her little 
daughter. It is all quite simple and straight- 
forward. There is no longer anything to trouble 
or be doubtful over. We exchange views on 
theories of education, on a child's small idiosyn- 
crasies, on the difficulties of giving her enough 
fresh air when so many hours are taken up with 
study. We get absorbed in our talk, and find 
that we have many views in common — always a 
delightful discovery, whether the other person be 
an Empress or a charwoman. At last Her Majesty 
realizes that a good many hungry ladies and 
gentlemen are waiting not far away for her appear- 
ance and their dinner, and so at length she rises 
and walks through several rooms, preceded by a 
footman who flings open both leaves of the folding 
doors, till we emerge in an apartment brightly 
lit with many wax candles, where a subdued buzz 
of conversation suddenly stops and the whole 
company bows and curtsies at once, like a field 
of corn when the wind passes over it. 

At table I sit between a young officer in uniform 
and the English lady who is leaving to-morrow 
and to whose privileges and responsibilities I am 



ARRIVAL AT THE PRUSSIAN COURT 11 

to succeed. I learn with horror that with her 
departure I shall be left to grapple single-handed 
with whatever difficulties may arise — without 
any aid or advice excepting that which the 
" Countess," who is continually occupied, may 
find time to fling to me at odd intervals of the 
day. The German Ober-Gouvernante, whom I 
had expected to find at my side with counsel 
and guidance, is in strict quarantine, having been 
in contact with some infectious illness, and will 
continue to be possibly contagious for the next 
ten days. She is being purified and disinfected 
somewhere with relations, and will resume her 
duties when the Court returns to the New Palace 
near Potsdam. 

In the meantime I shall carry on as well as 
my ignorance allows the numerous duties of her 
position as well as my own ! Perhaps it is the 
sympathetic pity of the kind German people in 
my immediate neighbourhood, their encourage- 
ment to be '* firm " towards my pupil, the trans- 
parent hints that she is a remarkably difficult 
child to manage, and that only a person of unyield- 
ing discipline who will exact rigid and unquestion- 
ing obedience can have the least chance of coping 
with her extraordinary temperament, that make 
the true inwardness of the situation apparent. 

*' I rather like naughty children," I murmur 
wearily, with an effort to throw off the forebodings 
caused by their remarks; ** they have so much 
more character than good ones. Most people who 
turn out rather remarkable seem to have been 
distinguished in their youth for naughtiness." 

They all smile indulgently, with the air of 



12 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

humouring the whims of a child whose words are 
not to be taken seriously. 

" Grown-up people can often be very annoying 
too," I remark, as a further contribution to the 
discussion. They smile again at each other, and 
immediately change the subject to something else 
quite unconnected with education, and, lapsing 
into German, leave me, so to speak, stranded 
in a backwater, where I wonder vaguely if I can 
possibly keep my eyes open much longer and if 
it will be Ihe-majeste if my head suddenly sinks 
into my dessert plate. 

Mercifully, when we rise from the table I am 
dismissed to much-needed repose by the Empress, 
and bow my way through the door out of the 
confused blur into which the lights and the people's 
faces are beginning to merge. 

I had had no sleep the previous night, having 
spent it tossing on the stormy waves in a state of 
acute misery from sea-sickness ; I had travelled 
all day through the scorching hours, with little 
to eat or drink, in a train which shook and rattled 
and bumped as only Continental trains can ; I 
had been anxious and harried, owing to ignorance 
of the language and customs and train-regulations 
of the country through which I was passing ; I 
had been fretted by the droschky-driver, pre- 
sented to an Empress, and had supped at the royal 
table in private, which is much more alarming 
than on a ceremonious occasion; so that it was 
the mere wreck and shadow of myself which, 
guided by the pictures, crawled half-dazed along 
those interminable passages. 

But the morning aspect of even the most difiicult 



ARRIVAL AT THE PRUSSIAN COURT 13 

situation is invariably more courageous and hope- 
ful than that of evening. I breakfasted in the 
little sitting-room with my compatriot, who is 
absorbed in packing, and vouchsafes not one 
single helpful hint as to my future conduct, for 
whicli to this da}/^ I bear her somewhat of a grudge. 
She dismisses the whole business with the airy 
lightness of one whom it no longer concerns. She 
shows m6 a beautiful silver dish, a wedding present 
from Her Majesty, and packs it away with a smile 
on her face. She hums a tune while she wanders 
in and out from room to room, where the sun- 
light flickers, brightening and disappearing under 
the light clouds that sail in the blue above. 

At about half-past ten a footman comes with a 
summons to go downstairs, so I put on my outdoor 
things and follow him out into the sunny court- 
yard, through a big archway, and along winding 
sandy paths, till I reach a point where I can see 
the Empress sitting at a table under some big 
trees near what is called the " English garden" — 
a garden made, and still maintained much as she 
left it, by that daughter of George III who 
married a Landgraf of Hesse-Homburg. 

Here it is that the Kaiser's little daughter first 
comes dancing lightly into my life, to remain in 
it, a permanent and very delightful memory. A 
steep grassy bank in front descends so deeply to 
a tiny lake tying below that the intervening 
shore is hidden. Suddenly above this bank 
appears the sleek golden head of a small girl 
of nine or so, dressed in a stiff, starched, plain 
white sailor dress with a blue collar and a straw 
sailor hat. 



14 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

Her mother calls to her in English, " Come 
here, Sissy'' ; and with a hop skip and jump over 
the intervening space she springs forward and 
holds out her hand to me with frank friendliness. 

A few steps behind her comes another flying 
figure in white — her brother. Prince Joachim, the 
youngest of the six sons of the Kaiser ; and then 
above the bank emerges the young officer I met 
at supper the night before, who is Governor to 
the Prince. Both children begin talking volubly 
in German to the Empress, the little girl, as far 
as my limited knowledge permits me to judge, 
emphatically contradicting every word her brother 
says. They are obviously — well, perhaps, it would 
be over-emphasis to call it quarrelling, but they 
are certainly not quite in accord. The young 
officer, lingering in the background — lingering in 
backgrounds becomes a fine art at court — gives 
me a meaning glance, raises his eyebrows, smiles 
and shakes his head with a slight shrug of his 
shoulders. 

" They are always zanking," he says to me in 
his fluent but imperfect English, when, after a few 
minutes, the Empress departs, leaving me to the 
full and undisturbed enjoyment of my duties. I 
subsequently consult a dictionary and discover 
that zanken is a German verb meaning " to 
wrangle," "to dispute acrimoniously." It is a 
conspicuous characteristic of the children's inter- 
course in those early days. Although they cannot 
bear to be parted from each other, they are as 
frankly and reciprocally rude as politicians, dis- 
covering an amazing fertility in the application 
of opprobrious and insulting epithets, flowers of 



ARRIVAL AT THE PRUSSIAN COURT 15 

rhetoric of which I gather a few for personal use 
if necessary. These storms beat with bewildering 
and baffling violence on my head, lacking, as I do, 
the knowledge of the German language necessary 
to make my censure more discriminating; but I 
note that Prince Joachim's Governor is just as 
helpless as myself, though his command of the 
vernacular might be supposed to give him some 
advantage. 

The next few days are busied with initiation 
into that mysterious inner side of court life of 
which the general public necessarily knows little 
but imagines many vain things. Chief among 
those early impressions is that of the Kaiser 
himself, whom I have not yet seen, as he is 
absent on one of his numerous journeys. Distilled 
through the alembic of his little daughter's mind 
I soon perceive that the Emperor, hitherto known 
to me only by the medium of newspapers, which, 
although perhaps accurately informed as to 
facts, often throw a misleading light on the char- 
acter and temperament of this much-discussed 
monarch, is not always playing the part of the 
frowning Imperial Personage of fierce moustaches, 
corrugated brow and continually-clenched mailed 
fist — that he frequently recedes from this warlike 
attitude and becomes an ordinary humorous 
domestic '' Papa," who makes sportive jokes 
with his family at the breakfast table and is even 
occasionally guilty of the more atrocious form 
of pun. 

This phase of " Papa's " character is forcibly, 
almost painfully, brought home to me when one 
day his daughter, in a moment of relaxation, seeks 



16 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

to amuse herself b}^ practising the schoolboy 
trick — she is very schoolboyish — of making with 
her mouth and cheek the " pop " of a champagne 
cork and the subsequent gurgle of the flowing 
^^dne. 

" \Mioever taught you these unladj^like accom- 
plishments ? " I ask, in the reproving tones appro- 
priate to an instructor of youth. 

" S-s-sh ! It was Papa," she answers gleefully, 
repeating the offending sound mth an even more 
perfect imitation than before; "he can do it 
splendidly," and she " gurgled" with persevering 
industry. 

It is obvious that in the intervals of inspecting 
regiments and making warlike speeches " Papa" 
unbends to a considerable extent when in the 
bosom of his family. But I learn with some 
regret that "poor Mamma" seldom has time to 
get a realty proper breakfast, because after she 
has poured out "Papa's" coffee, buttered his 
toast and ministered to his other wants she has 
onty time to snatch the merest mouthful for 
herself before he is hurrjing away to call the dogs 
and put on his cloak for a brisk early morning 
walk. 

" Come on, come on," he says, with cheerful 
impatience; " how you do dawdle over 3^our food, 
to be sure ! I've finished long ago," and the whole 
family has to leave its meal half eaten and start on 
an hour's tramp through the streets of the town 
or to the beautiful hihs outside. It is clear that 
" Papa " is the dominating force of his daughter's 
Ufe. His ideas, his opinions on men and things 
are persistently quoted by her ; trenchant, fluent 




THE KAISERS DAUGHTER, PRINCESS VICTORIA LOUISE (XOW 
DUCHESS OF BRUNSWICK) AT THE AGE OF NINE 



ARRIVAL AT THE PRUSSIAN COURT 17 

criticisms on persons of world-wide fame, aston- 
ishing verdicts on men of the hour, issue from her 
hps in bewildering confidences. 

" Papa says that Herr Muller " (the name of 
course is not Muller) " is a Schafs-Kopf and doesn't 
know what he's talking about," she would say 
glibly of some well-known politician on whose 
utterances the world was hanging with bated 
breath. 

These communications are sometimes almost 
disconcerting. They add a burden to life, a fear 
lest one may betray some great political secret 
from sheer inadvertence. It is a relief when the 
Princess turns her confidences into less embarrass- 
ing channels. 

The chief pets of her existence at this time 
are two ponies, which, together with a small 
victoria upholstered in pale blue satin, have been 
presented to her by the then reigning Sultan of 
Turkey, who was afterwards deposed. These two 
little creatures, named Ali and Aladdin, are of a 
pale fawn-colour, with long white silky manes 
and tails, and when drawing the small blue-lined 
victoria, which has a diminutive groom perched 
on a small seat behind, make an extremely exotic 
circus-like effect on the country roads round 
Homburg. The Princess always drives herself, 
and delights in flourishing a rather large whip, 
which it is necessary frequently to apply to the 
ponies' fat sides, for they are of a somewhat 
sluggish disposition ; but their appearance outside 
the Schloss gates is hailed with delight by the 
crowds who stand waiting there waving their 
hats and handkerchiefs on all sides. 

2 



18 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

Cronberg, the residence of the late Empress 
Frederick, now in the possession of her daughter 
the Princess Frederick Charles of Hesse, is within 
driving distance of Homburg. At this time the 
children of another sister of the Emperor are 
staying there — the Greek princes and princesses, 
whose father was then Crown Prince and is now f 
King of Greece. As the Princess of Hesse is 
herself the mother of six sons, two pairs of twins 
among them, there is no lack of playfellows for 
the Princess and Prince Joachim, who frequently 
exchange visits with their young cousins. Cron- 
berg is a beautiful house built in old German style, 
quite different from the peculiar Greco-French 
character of most palaces in Germany. 

It is pleasant to watch the cataract of white- 
clad children rushing in and out of the doorways, 
displaying that universal characteristic of their 
age — a desire to penetrate to unusual places, such 
as kitchens, cellars and attics. They have glorious 
games on rainy afternoons in the upper regions 
of the old Homburg Schloss, in whose cobwebby, 
dusty rooms, among old forgotten lumber, are to 
be found many curiously interesting things — 
old portraits of dead and gone Eandgrafs and 
Landgravines, pictures of the children of the old 
house, attired in the cumbersome finery which 
in past days hampered unfortunate infancy, 
pieces of queer armour, ancient blunderbusses 
and rapiers, old moth-eaten furniture with the 
silk worn into rags. 

I had developed an unsuspected talent in the 
direction of Versteckens — the ever-popular hide- 
and-seek — more especially in the role of seeker. 



ARRIVAL AT THE PRUSSIAN COURT 19 

and distributed the thrills of which the game is 
capable with even-handed impartiality, not for- 
getting that even the child of least originality, 
who hides in the most perfectly obvious place 
with large portions of his anatomy plainly visi- 
ble, likes to have, so to speak, a run for his 
money, and enjoys the hovering discovery best 
when it retires baffled on the verge, and the 
wrong cupboard is frequently and persistently 
searched. 

The form of the game which we played exacted 
that the seeker should count slowly up to a hundred 
with tightly shut eyes and then begin the search ; 
but I compromised this rather wearisome method 
by allowing five minutes' "law" and beginning 
to count at ninety. These odd five minutes were 
utilized to examine at ease many objects which 
I should otherwise never have seen ; and to an 
accompaniment of muffled shrieks, thundering 
footsteps, and a passing vision of fleeting white 
legs, short frilly skirts, and rather smudgy 
princely features (for these out-of-the-way corners 
were a trifle dirty) I was enabled to study many 
quaint old steel engravings of hunting scenes 
which hung on the walls, engravings which would 
make a collector's mouth water. 

I still remember the indignation with which 
Prince Max of Hesse made the discovery that I 
did not pass these intervals in a state of temporary 
blindness. 

"You don't keep your eyes shut all the time: 
you must keep them shut," he objected. (They 
all spoke English and German equally well, but 
preferred German when talking among them- 



20 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

selves, with the exception of the Greek children, 
who always spoke English.) 

I have some difficulty in persuading him that 
I may honourably keep my eyes fixed on a picture 
without transgressing the rules of the game. 

" But you can see us go by out of the corner 
of your eye," he persisted. 

" But I should hear you in any case." 

" Well, then you must shut your ears as well ; 
hold your hands over them." He is a very con- 
scientious little boy and a past master in the 
matter of argument. If he had not been dragged 
along by my Princess there is no saying what I 
might have been forced to do, but she knows 
when she is having a good time and is no stickler 
for the strict observance of rules. 

" Come along, Max," she cries ; *' I've got a 
splendid place. Don't begin to count yet, Topsy." 
She has already found a nickname for me, and 
" Topsy " I remain, for the rest of my career. 

On the evening of one of the days when we have 
been playing hide-and-seek my pupil tells me an 
interesting piece of news. 

'* Papa is coming back to-morrow morning," 
she says gleefully, " and then you'll see him. I 
expect you're looking forward to it very much. 
I shall tell Papa all about you. You are just like 
all English people — very thin. Why don't you 
eat more and try and get fatter ? " 

" I don't want to get fat," I reply indignantly; 
" and if I did, what would be the use when I have 
to run about all day after you children ? I expect 
I ran at least ten miles this afternoon when we 
were playing hide-and-seek." 



ARRIVAL AT THE PRUSSIAN COURT 21 

" I expect you did," answered the Princess 
regretfully. '' It was a splendid game, wasn't it ? 
Georgie hid in a bath once and Alexander turned 
the tap on him; but," returning to an earlier 
subject, " Papa will want to know all about you, 
and I shall tell him you are very thin. Won't 
you be very pleased to see Papa ? " 

I murmur something politely appropriate and 
non-committal, but the fearful joy reserved for 
the morrow somewhat troubles my thoughts that 
night. Life seems already to be almost sufficiently 
strenuous. 



CHAPTER II 

HOMBURG-VOR-DER-HOHE 

IT does not take long to discover that my 
small charge has inherited the temperament 
of her race. What Carlyle calls ' ' Hohenzollern 
choler," and a certain foot-stamping manner of 
expressing opinion, exhibit themselves at an early 
stage of our acquaintance. She is a highly-strung, 
nervous, excitable child of generous wayward 
impulses, who needs an existence of calm routine 
for the healthy development and cultivation of 
her mind, but by the circumstances of her life is 
kept in a restless vortex of activity which places 
considerable difficulties in the way of her education. 
She is in her tenth year when I first know her, 
a well-grown child of her age, with rather pale 
features and a lively, alert expression. She wears 
her fair hair cut in a straight fringe across her 
forehead and hanging in long " nursery ringlets" 
over her shoulders. These ringlets are produced, 
in what is naturally perfectly straight hair, by 
the art of her English nurse, whom I often watch 
with a certain fascination as she brushes the 
shining strands round her finger, forming without 
any extraneous aid the most beautiful and regular 
curls possible. 

There are but two people of whom the Princess 
really stands in awe. Her '' Papa " of course is 

22 



HOMBURG-VOR-DER-HOHE 23 

one, and I am not sure if her English nurse does 
not occupy an almost equal position with His 
Majesty in this respect. " Nanna" is a discipli- 
narian of the first water, and like other disci- 
plinarians, brooks no interference with her own 
laws, which, in a court where many overlapping 
interests exist, is apt to breed many diihculties. 
She has been thirteen years in the service of the 
Empress, has brought up the younger children 
from birth, watched by them together with their 
mother many nights when they were ill, and 
practically saved the life of Prince Joachim, the 
youngest of the Kaiser's six sons, by her constant 
and faithful care of his delicate infancy. But one 
by one her nurslings have been taken from her, 
not without a certain fierce opposition on her 
part. Prussian princes are given early into 
military hands. It is a tradition of their training, 
and the shrewd old nurse has a very strong opinion, 
shared by the Kaiserin, that an inexperienced 
young officer is no person to be entrusted with 
the superintendence of a young child's physical 
and mental needs. She has battled indomitably, 
and often successfully, for her charges, invading 
even the professorial departments ; and, aided and 
abetted by the Court doctor, who naturally con- 
siders physical before intellectual development, has 
often entirely routed the educational authorities, 
who have had to retire baffled and disconcerted. 

But her triumphs were short-lived. An elabo- 
rate educational machine equipped with expert 
professors for every subject, with a carefully 
thought-out programme, in which every hour of 
the day is rigidly mapped out, cannot be stayed 



24 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

for the whims of one obstructive woman obviously 
prejudiced against German institutions. The fre- 
quent skirmishes had developed into something 
of the nature of a campaign. It is not good for 
children to be, as they frequently are even in less 
illustrious circles, the centre of warring elements ; 
so at last the inevitable happened, and with much 
reluctance ''Nanna's" dismissal to England, of 
course with an ample pension, was finally decided 
upon. When I first made her acquaintance in 
Homburg her influence was a waning one; her 
autocratic rule was loosening — ^her departure de- 
layed only by the beneficent hand of Majesty, 
which shrank from the final severance from a 
faithful if somewhat injudicious servant. 

" Nanna " subsequently asserted that I had 
been specially deputed as an instrument of Pro- 
vidence to console her during those last few weeks ; 
and though I myself am not personally conscious 
of any qualifications for the ofiice of consoler, I 
may at any rate lay claim to the credit of having 
been a very efiicient safety-valve for her emotions, 
which poured over me in a constant flood of 
retrospect and admonition. She was uncom- 
promisingly British, in spite of her thirteen years* 
residence abroad. It was at once her strength and 
her undoing. She refused to strike her flag to any 
mere lady-in-waiting or German Ober-Gouvernante, 
and maintained an inflexible principle of behaviour 
in situations where the tact and pliability indis- 
pensable to diplomatic relations were most needed. 

" Do you think I was going to stand her putting 
the thermometer in the bath-water to see how 
hot it was ? " she asked me indignantly, referring 



HOMBURG-VOR-DER-HOHE 25 

to the absent Ober-Gouvernante ; and I agreed that 
it was the kind of thing that no one could be 
expected to bear. 

She was a good faithful soul, rather crabbed 
and cross sometimes, and she inspired in the 
German footmen and housemaids under her orders 
a good deal of respect and fear, and also, as I sub- 
sequently discovered, a certain amount of affection, 
such as sterling qualities will always earn for 
themselves somehow ; and if the German associa- 
tions modified nothing in her character, the same 
cannot be said of her speech, which, while still 
remaining British in outward form, became in the 
course of years somewhat warped from its original 
purity. 

" At Christmas," she told me once, when 
showing the gifts that the Empress had made to 
her, ''last year I became a set of teaspoons, and 
the year before I became a lovely silver teapot." 
She had obviously confused the German word 
hekommen, " to get," with the similar-sounding 
but different-meaning English word. 

It was at a picnic that I was first presented to 
His Majesty the Emperor. We had all driven 
one afternoon in a series of carriages to a beautiful 
spot in the surrounding hills, where, a little way 
into the forest which bordered the roadside, a 
table on trestles was laid for tea, I had already 
been warned by the Princess of the impending joy. 

" You'll see Papa now, and be introduced," 
she said before we started, her face glowing in 
sympathy with what she supposed I must be 
feeling. *' Won't it be lovely ? " 

His Majesty and the gentlemen with whom he 



26 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

is talking volubly when I first catch sight of him 
are all in uniform, which gleams brightly under the 
deep green of the pine trees. The German officer, 
it is well known, wears uniform continually, and 
adds greatly thereby to the colour and gaiety of 
the social functions in which he takes part. The 
Emperor sets an example also in this respect, and 
on the very few occasions when he appears in 
mufti loses a great deal of his imposing appearance. 
Civil dress has with him something of the baffling 
nature of a disguise, and the ordinary easy lounge 
tweed suit, which many Englishmen wear with 
advantage, is distinctly unflattering to him, 
although he looks well in a frock-coat and silk hat. 
But he never appears quite himself, never really 
fits into any but military or naval garments. 

" When His Majesty has finished talking you 
will be introduced," said one of the ladies-in- 
waiting. '' The Empress will present you, so do 
not go far away." 

So I stand waiting under the trees, watching 
the footmen while they place camp-stools and 
arrange cakes and teacups, and hearing gusts 
of the Emperor's conversation, which, being carried 
on in German, is quite unintelligible to me, 
though there is one word " Kolossal" which keeps 
emerging frequently from the rumble of talk. 

Presently the group of uniforms breaks up. 
His Majesty turns towards the Empress, some- 
body signs to me, and I step out of the shadows 
and come forward. "Papa's" keen blue eyes 
look at me with that characteristically penetrating, 
alert, rather quizzical brightness which I after- 
wards learn to know so well. They seem almost 




AUGUSTA VICTORIA, GERMAN E.MPRESS, WITH HER DAUGHTER 



I 



HOMBURG-VOR-DER-HOHE 27 

too violent a contrast with the deep sunburn of 
his face. My hand is enveloped in a hearty, 
almost painful handshake, and I am confronted 
with a few short, sharp questions. 

" From what part of England do I come ? 
Have I ever been in Germany before ? What do 
I think of Homburg ? Do I speak German ? " 

I subsequently have the pleasure of many 
stimulating discussions with His Majesty, when 
we debate a variety of questions, from armaments 
to suffragettes, and are not invariably accordant 
in our views ; but on this occasion our talk is 
necessarily short and perfunctory. 

Presently we are all sitting at the tea-table, but 
the Emperor remains a little apart, continuing the 
conversation with his adjutants, dipping from 
time to time his Zwieback into his tea, as is per- 
mitted by German custom. 

Ausfliige und Land-Partien — excursions and 
picnics — are an integral part of German existence 
in summer-time, and the Hof lags no whit behind 
in this respect. Though the Emperor detests cold, 
damp weather, he leads an open-air existence, 
and loses no opportunity of being im Freien. 
He breakfasts, drinks tea and eats supper out in 
the garden whenever the weather permits ; and it 
is probably for this reason more than any other 
that the principal German meal, Mittagessen, 
whose elaborateness does not allow it to be served 
al fresco, still keeps its place in the middle of the 
day, allowing the simpler supper to be served 
out of doors in the cool of the evening. It is a 
charming and healthy custom, this eating under 
the blue sky, but naturally only possil,..e ._ the 



28 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

soft, warm Continental climate, where one misses 
the sharp tang in the air of our sea-girt isle. 

Near Homburg lies an ancient Roman fortress, 
which has been excavated and restored by the 
Emperor. Excursions either on horseback or by 
carriage to the Saalburg are a great feature of 
the stay in Homburg, and often the whole party 
is permitted to excavate in likely spots for " re- 
mains." The Empress once disinterred a very 
beautiful bowl, and it is no unusual thing to 
come across fine specimens of pottery or iron- 
work. Everybody is supplied with a short 
wooden implement for digging in the soft loam, 
and the royalties, including Prince Joachim and 
the Princess, together with the ladies and gentle- 
men of the party, labour industriously through a 
summer afternoon under the direction of Professor 
Jacobi, who directs the work of excavation and 
checks any undue exuberance in digging which 
might lead to disastrous results. 

These digging parties, which are only indulged 
in on rare occasions, sometimes give scope for 
the exercise of a peculiarly characteristic form of 
German humour. Often a broken cup or vase or 
an ancient Roman dagger made in an excellent 
imitation pate of chocolate is previously embedded 
in the soil, and the ardent excavator, glowing 
with the success of a great discovery, finds to 
his chagrin, on reaching home, that at the solemn 
washing of his find, which always takes place 
with great ceremony in the presence of the 
assembled company after supper, not only the en- 
cumbering soil but also the whole fabric of the 
precious antique dissolves away into a hopeless 



I 



HOMBURG-VOR-DER-HOHE 2& 

ruin, at once revealing the unkind imposture. 
This playful joke is easily carried out, since no 
one is allowed to excavate excepting in carefully 
indicated spots. 

The Emperor at his own expense has rebuilt 
portions of the old Roman settlement ; and the 
newness of these buildings, the freshly-painted 
barrack-rooms of the old Roman militia with their 
Latin inscriptions over the doorways, the bright- 
ness of the small glazed bricks of which the walls 
are constructed, give a somewhat jarring sense of 
unreality to the whole Burg, and raise the question 
whether it is advisable or not to attempt to re- 
construct the past in quite such a conscientious 
manner — whether the actual ruins, scanty though 
they may be, do not tell their tale better than 
these new up-to-date buildings so curiously well- 
equipped with modern appliances. 

But the buildings have their uses quite apart 
from intrinsic interest, as is proved one afternoon 
when the children, including the " Hessians " and 
" Greeks," are invited to the Saalburg by the 
Empress, who is herself present, and a heavy rain 
coming on, a sort of spurious hockey game, played 
with croquet mallets, is organized and pursued 
with the greatest vigour in the " Hall of the 
Centurions." The Emperor, who is out driving 
somewhere in the neighbourhood, arrives with his 
suite during a crisis in the game, and is much 
amused to watch the small horde of princelings, 
among whom his own daughter is very conspicu- 
ous, as they chase the ball backwards and forwards, 
sometimes only missing his own Imperial legs by 
decimal fractions of inches. 



30 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

Even in those first early days at Homburg it 
is at once noticeable what a great difference the 
presence of the Emperor makes in the atmosphere 
of the court. A certain vitality and still more a 
certain amount of strain become visible. Every- 
body is to be ready to go anywhere and do anything 
at a moment's notice— to be always in the appro- 
priate costume necessary for walking, riding, or 
driving. His Majesty walks a great deal. Often 
we drive out some distance beyond Homburg 
among the lovely mountains and forests, and 
descending from our carriages tramp along at a 
brisk pace for several miles, when the carriages 
meet us, and we return. It is altogether a strenu- 
ous existence for the entourage, who must always, 
so to speak, be mobilized for active service, which 
is probably just what the Emperor wishes. From 
early morning till night there is hardly a moment 
of respite from duty, and my own day is a very 
crowded one, with hardly time left for the necessary 
frequent changes of costume, which are one of the 
chief burdens of existence at court. 

An elaborate toilette is customary at the mid- 
day dinner — something in silk or satin, with a long 
train — and it must be completed by the inevitable 
fan and white giac6 gloves, of which one is worn 
on the hand, the other carried. 

We all assemble before dinner in a large drawing- 
room, where the ladies and gentlemen of the suite 
and any visitors who are invited stand about 
talking till the appearance of the Emperor and 
Empress. Often the Princess comes in before 
them with Prince Joachim. The folding-doors 
are thrown wide open for the entrance of Their 



HOMBURG-VOR-DER-HOHE 31 

Majesties, who always appear at different doors, 
the Emperor usually being last, and are announced 
by a footman. Everybody at once stops talking, 
wheels about and bows simultaneously. 

One day the guests at dinner include an elderly 
lady and gentleman of an old-fashioned German 
type, who shrink into a corner and look rather 
clever and scientific. The Princess and Prince 
Joachim run up and kiss the old lady and shake 
hands with the old gentleman. 

He is Professor von Esmarck, who, when he 
was a struggling young doctor, fell in love with 
a Princess— the aunt of the present Empress of 
Germany — ^and married her. The elderly lady 
with the tightly-brushed hair is his wife. They 
live in a pleasant little house in Homburg, and 
always dine at the Schloss when the court is 
staying there. 

My own experience would lead me to testify to 
the truth of what I have read somewhere, that the 
chief function of a lady- or gentleman-in-waiting 
is to stand in a draught and smile. 

" Standing and waiting," said my kind Countess, 
" that is the chief part of our lives ; it makes 
one mentally and bodily weary till one gets used 
to it." 

Hand-shaking too is practised to a considerable 
extent. It does not seem to matter how many 
times people have met before in the day and 
shaken hands, they generally seem to like to do 
it again while waiting for dinner. Presumably it 
helps to pass the time away, and gives an excuse 
for walking about from group to group. My 
place at the oval dinner-table is at one end, 



32 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

between Prince Joachim's governor and his tutor. 
The Emperor and Empress are seated at the sides, 
opposite to each other, while the guests, inter- 
mingled with court ladies and gentlemen, radiate 
right and left. Footmen wearing the court 
livery, which includes rather ill-fitting gaiters, 
wait behind every chair and the Emperor's 
" Jager " in green uniform attends exclusively 
to his master's wants. Red and white wine and 
champagne are served to all the guests, but 
neither the Emperor nor the Empress drinks any- 
thing but fruit- juice as a beverage. William II 
has a horror of excessive indulgence in alcohol, 
and sets his face against it by both precept and 
example. 

*' You English people," he says to me on one 
occasion, " you drink those awful fiery spirits — 
horrible stuff — whisky, brandy, what not ? How 
can you imbibe such quantities of poisonous 
liquid — ruining your constitutions ? Simply ruin- 
ing them — whisky-and-soda everywhere — no, it's 
awful : I tasted it once — like liquid fire — ugh ! 
Your drinking habits are fearful." 

He admonishes me for our national failings with 
uplifted finger and serious face, and I try feebly to 
maintain that, though in the past we have been 
undeniably guilty and still drink far more than is 
good for us, yet according to published statistics 
we are year by year growing more sober — that the 
percentage of drunkenness in the army is slowly 
but surely decreasing, that there are fewer crimes 
owing to drunkenness, and so on — ^but His Majesty 
evidently has more faith in his own observations 
than in any amount of statistics, and continues 



HOMBURG-VOR-DER-HOHE 33 

dubiously to shake his head and his finger at me 
as though I were personally responsible. 

Dinner is finished in about three-quarters of 
an hour, and at a sign from the Empress every one 
rises and, the ladies preceding the gentlemen, all file 
slowly into the salon, where coffee is served and 
every one stands and drinks it. This standing 
about after dinner is one of the most tedious of 
all court duties, lasting sometimes for an hour. 
As the Emperor and Empress never sit down, but 
move from one group to another, talking to this 
or that guest, the rest of us prop ourselves sur- 
reptitiously against projecting pieces of furniture 
and try to look as happy as circumstances permit. 
The little Princess and Prince Joachim flit from 
one person to another, wrangling according to 
custom in subdued undertones so that "Papa" 
may not hear, trying to tease their mother into 
some concession, or whispering their experiences 
into the ears of one of the ladies. There is always 
a good deal of surreptitious stifled giggling, and 
it is easy to see that the waiting is an irksome 
restraint to their active minds. 

If there are a great many important guests, the 
children dine alone with their governor and myself, 
when they are expected to speak English all the 
time ; but they lapse into German with the greatest 
facility, especially when the usual zanking begins. 
They also every evening eat supper together, con- 
tinuing cheerfully and acrimoniously their criti- 
cisms of each other's conduct. Prince Joachim 
indulges in the usual cheap sneers at femininity 
with which many schoolboys goad their sisters 
into revolt. 



34 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

" Mddchen," he remarks with superb disdain, 
" die Mddchen " 

" Speak English/' commands his governor, who 
is anxious to improve his knowledge of that 
language. 

" Girls," replies the Prince, speaking with dis- 
tinct and aggravating deliberation, ''Girls cannot 
be soldiers — ^zey are no use at all. It is good zat 
we have but one girl in our family. She cannot 
be an officer. She cannot fight. She cannot 
ride " 

" Much better than you — she rides," returns 
the incensed Princess. " You who fall off your 
horse if it gives a little jump. Pfui ! " She 
bangs a spoon on the table to emphasise her in- 
dignation. 

The Prince is delighted at the success of his 
efforts, and continues to jeer unmercifully. 

"Girls can't ride," he reiterates; "zey can't 
fight — zey are always crying — zey are always 
cross— — ^" 

" Try to say ' they,' not ' zey,' " I interpose, 
hoping to divert his thoughts to other subjects. 

" Joachim can't speak English one bit," says 
his sister ; "he says 'zey' and 'zese' and 'zose,' 
and ' I drink your healse.' He is a silly boy ; he 
can't jump, he can't play tennis, he can't ride — ; " 
and so on ad infinitum. 

Twice a week after we have finished supper I 
take Prince Joachim away and read English with 
him in his room, while the Governor sits listening 
in a chair, his long red-striped military grey legs 
stretched out before him, his hands clasped on his 
knee, an absorbed, concentrated look in his eyes. 



HOMBURG-VOR-DER-HOHE 35 

The book chosen is Stevenson's immortal " Trea- 
sure Island," for the Prince has stipulated that 
whatever we read shall not be about Muster- 
Kinder, which I interpret as meaning '' pattern- 
children," the kind abounding in certain books, 
but happily seldom met with in real life. I con- 
sider it a hopeful and healthy sign in the Prince, 
his objection to Muster-Kinder, and promise that 
my reading shall be blameless in this particular 
respect. He seems a little suspicious as we settle 
down and I open at the first chapter, but before 
many pages have been turned he is holding his 
breath to listen, and his verdict on my choice of 
a book is that it is magnificent — prachtvoll. 

It may here be remarked that there are few 
if any original books in the German language 
written especially for boys, who have to content 
themselves with translations of Fenimore Cooper's 
works, "Robinson Crusoe" and "The Swiss 
Family Robinson," and of late years with the 
"Adventures" of the famous Sherlock Holmes, 
who has a great vogue upon the Continent, and 
whose history may be bought at almost every 
railway bookstall abroad. 

Not only the Prince, but also the Governor, in 
spite of his thirty years and his military experience, 
immediately fall under the spell of the story, 
notwithstanding the many words in it of which 
they do not know the meaning. When the hour 
comes to an end and the Prince begs for an ex- 
tension of his lesson, the Governor pulls out his 
watch and after a slight hesitation, smilingly grants 
another ten minutes before bed-time. 

" Schnell, schnell," — "quick, quick," implores 



86 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

the Prince, and I hurry on towards the fatal Black 
Spot and the fate of the blind man, and am pressed 
to come again as soon as possible and not wait 
till the lesson becomes due, because they both— 
Prince and Governor — are so anxious to know 
what happens next. 

At the end of the following week the court is 
to leave Homburg for its permanent residence — if 
anything so unpermanent can be so termed — in 
the New Palace near Potsdam, where the Ober- 
Gouvernante will be waiting to share my multi- 
farious labours, and where I am assured that the 
regular routine — *' only we never have any regular 
routine, it is always being broken," sighs the Coun- 
tess — at any rate an approximate routine may be 
confidently anticipated. 

I pack feverishly in the small intervals of time 
snatched from my other occupations, and at half- 
past seven one evening go down to the courtyard, 
where files of carriages are waiting. I am sup- 
posed to accompany the Princess to the station, but 
at the last moment something is changed and I 
am sent off with a young adjutant whose English 
vocabulary is very limited. We drive down the 
long street, packed with people waiting to see 
Their Majesties go by. They cheer and wave 
enthusiastic handkerchiefs at each carriage as it 
passes, and though we may not usurp the royal 
prerogative and bow our acknowledgments, we 
assume affable expressions indicative of vicarious 
enjoyment of their exuberant loyalty, and so 
arrive presently at the royal waiting-room, which 
is gaily decorated with flags and evergreens. A 
crowd of officers and adjutants are on the steps 



HOMBURG-VOR-DER-HOHE 37 

awaiting the arrival of Their Majesties, and here 
my Princess comes presently, having driven in 
with her brother. 

In the waiting-room sits the venerable old Duke 
of Cambridge, who is staying in Homburg and 
has come to say " farewell" to the Emperor and 
Empress, whose approach is heralded by a louder 
burst of cheering, which swells and increases out- 
side the station. 

The royal train, painted in blue and cream- 
colour with gold decorations, is alongside the 
platform, the regulation red carpet is laid down, 
maids and valets peep furtively from the windows 
of distant compartments, footmen are hurrying to 
and fro, while the ladies and gentlemen of the 
suite continue their normal occupation of waiting, 
chatting to each other in the usual desultory 
manner. Presently Their Majesties emerge from 
the waiting-room and walk over the red carpet 
into the train, we all get in after them, and our 
journey begins among the frantic " hochs ! " and 
" hurrahs ! " of the crowd outside. 

We in England may believe in our own loyalty, 
but I doubt if we can compete with a German 
crowd in giving it expression. We are never able 
quite to abandon ourselves to the same unre- 
strained, wild enthusiasm, are always just a little 
too self-conscious — too afraid of being absurd. 
The German is untrammelled by considerations of 
that kind ; he revels in his own emotions, encour- 
ages his wife and family to revel in theirs, waves 
patriotic flags on the least provocation, puts his 
small son of six into a complete miniature Hussar 
uniform, lets him swagger about in the streets 



38 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

wearing it, to the undiluted envy of other small 
boys, sings " Heil dir im Sieger- Kranz'' (which 
goes to the same tune as " God Save the King," 
and has therefore a pleasantly familiar air to 
British ears), and is rather proud than ashamed 
at being moved to tears of national pride as his 
Kaiser passes by. No nation is more emotionally 
patriotic than the German, and that patriotism 
finds its chief centre in the personality of their 
Emperor. 

So that, as long as the daylight lasted, outside 
every little wayside station and crossing was a 
palpitating crowd of little girls wearing wreaths 
of wilted flowers on their heads, of little bare- 
legged boys waving Prussian flags, of perspiring 
officials of Vereine — any kind of Association for 
doing anything— in hot-looking dress- suits and 
tall chimney-pot hats : there they stood as they 
had obviously been standing for some hours, 
wedged together in one solid, impenetrable mass, 
leaning heavily upon each other in rows against the 
station railings, while on the platform, where no 
one else was allowed to intrude, the station- 
master, in his military-looking blue uniform, 
remained saluting with his hand at his red cap 
as the train steamed slowly by. Always the 
same station and the same crowd it seemed, 
with just a different name over the booking-office 
door — the same Eingang and Ausgang, the same 
brown, alert peasant faces gazing through the 
railings. 

The Princess and Prince Joachim had their 
supper in the long dining-car of the train, together 
with the Governor, tutor and myself ; and as they 



HOMBURG-VOR-DER-HOHE 39 

imbibed their soup and ate their Kalte Schnitzel 
were in full view of the shouting crowd. 

By means of frequent promptings they were 
induced to suspend the customary zanking and 
distribute a few bows among the people, Prince 
Joachim in particular distinguishing himself by 
an air of fine courtesy as he raised his round 
white sailor cap, which he flourished gracefully 
over his head in answer to the enthusiastic roars 
that swelled and died outside. 

We had to hurry over our meal so as to allow 
of the table being re-laid for the supper of Their 
Majesties and the suite, so we swallowed one 
course after another with headlong speed, curtail- 
ing conversation to its utmost limits, and when 
the last mouthful was despatched the children 
went to say good-night to their parents while the 
rest of us retired to the sleeping-cow/>^s provided 
for the night, although it was as yet much too 
early to think of going to bed. 

The royal train, in which I made many journeys, 
is, as may be imagined, '' replete with every 
modern convenience " of travel, but this did not 
prevent it oscillating, banging and shaking to 
an appalling extent. One was hurled backwards 
and forwards and jolted and jerked with every 
form of movement known to science. Sometimes 
we seemed to be moving over rippled granite, and 
then a horizontal spasm mixed up with weird 
scrunchings seized the whole train, which appeared 
to be having some kind of hysterical fit. Occa- 
sionally we pulled up with a jolt and jar and 
remained stationary for a few minutes, before 
resuming our shuddering, jerking journey, which 



40 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

stretched out every mile into a nightmare 
length. 

Time seems interminably long in such circum- 
stances, and the weary hours dragged on very 
slowly. An attempt at undressing forced into 
the foreground the question of how — in view 
of the difficulty of taking off clothes — one was 
ever likely to be in a favourable position to put 
them on again. Brush and comb, hairpins, all 
went sliding gently away on to the floor ; and after 
washing in a basin in which a miniature tempest 
of soap-tipped wave-crests was raging, I renounced 
the adventure of undressing as one needing more 
intrepidity than I possessed, and lay down uncom- 
fortably in most of my clothes to wait for morning. 
Through the ventilator came a choking, smoke- 
laden odour. The pillow, covered with beautifully 
fine linen, on which I laid my head was hard 
as the nether millstone and productive of a dis- 
locating feeling in the neck ; the sheets and blankets 
were of the finest and best, but no one wants to 
go to bed in one's garments of the day. We were 
due to arrive in Wildpark, the station of the New 
Palace, somewhere about eight o'clock — nine hours 
more of the terrible shaking. I lay down and 
turned out the electric light, and became for the 
rest of the night a mere oscillating body, whirled 
continually back and forth through space. For- 
tunately the dawn comes early in August, and at 
the first faint greyness of the atmosphere I sat 
up giddily and watched the fiat Prussian dew- 
bathed landscape glide by, so different from the 
hilly region we had come from the night before. 
Somewhere about five o'clock a low tap comes 



HOMBURG-VOR-DER-HOHE 41 

to my door, and " Nanna," with her finger on her 
hp, hands in a cup of tea which she has managed 
to produce from somewhere. 

" I knew you'd not sleep much," she whispers. 
" Did you ever know trains shake Hke this one ? 
You'd think they'd manage to take His Majesty 
along at a more comfortable pace, wouldn't you? 
A royal train indeed ! Enough to shake you to 
pieces." "Nanna" loses no opportunity of 
drawing comparisons to the disadvantage of the 
German nation, which she considers hardly worthy 
to be governed by the illustrious family she 
serves. 

I drink her tea with much appreciation, and 
she comes and sits beside me and converses, or 
I might saj^ talks — for it is more outpouring 
than conversation — in a hoarse whisper, so 
that she may not disturb the gentleman who is 
supposed to be sleeping in the next coupe, but is 
probably lying awake yearning for the end of the 
journey. 

The greyness of the fields departs, they are 
threaded with gleams of colour as the sun slowly 
penetrates the clouds ; great wreaths and ragged 
eddies of mist begin to rise, cattle stand about 
half plunged in an ocean of vapour, the peasants 
are at work, women with red handkerchiefs tied 
over their heads kneel among the bright green 
of the potato crops ; the dreary night has departed, 
a new day is born. 

The train rattles and jerks its way along. 
"Nanna's" voice continues to croon in my ear 
words of warning, admonishment, advice. I 
listen without hearing or comprehension. Her 



42 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

voice is as some soothing accompaniment to my 
thoughts, giving a pleasant sense of companion- 
ship without exacting much attention. 

Somewhere about seven o'clock another soft 
tap is heard and the door slides back, revealing a 
footman with another tray of tea and Zwieback — 
those nice brown crunchy toast-like biscuits which 
pervade the Fatherland. 

" You'll have your proper breakfast when you 
arrive at the New Palace," whispers " Nanna," 
" but you'll not get it much before nine. You'd 
better have some more." 

I accept the fresh tea with pleasure, and listen 
as I drink it to the movement in the corridor. 
There is a sliding of doors, a sound of subdued 
voices — everybody is getting up. Nanna disap- 
pears to dress her Princess, who has slept soundly 
all night — happy capacity of childhood ! — and 
when I peep out into the corridor I see some of 
the ladies-in-waiting already dressed, looking 
rather wearily out of the window. A man comes 
in and makes my bed-clothes disappear in some 
miraculous manner, leaving behind him, instead 
of the two sleeping berths, in one of which I had 
lain awake so long, just the ordinary seat of a 
first-class carriage, of which the upper berth now 
forms the padded back. 

Some of the ladies kindly come and sit beside 
me and point out interesting objects of the land- 
scape. The Countess is one of them, and grows 
quite excited when at length a round green dome 
is visible over some trees. 

" There, there! " she cries, ** that is the roof of 
the New Palace ; we shall be there very soon — I 



HOMBlTRC-VOR-DEn-TIOHE 48 

hope you will he very happy there," and she 
squeezes my hand in the kindly sympathetic, 
sentimental, but very delightful manner of old- 
fashioned Germans. She feels that it is an im- 
portant day of my life, the moment when I enter 
what she calls the " real home " of the Emperor 
and Iimpress. 

" Like Windsor to your King and Queen," she 
explains, fearing that the forty castles which the 
Emperor possesses may create some confusion in 
my ideas. " Here is their real ' home,' you 
know." 

The train, which has been proceeding much 
more evenly since we entered the Prussian district, 
glides smoothly into a station, coming gently and 
imperceptibl}' to a stop. A few officers in uniform 
are waiting at the door of the simple, picturesque 
wooden Warte-Saal — which a few years later is 
to be replaced by a substantial stone building 
provided with lifts and luxurious and artistically- 
furnished waiting-rooms. 

There is a sudden opening of carriage-doors and 
activity of footmen and " Jagers." The Emperor, 
enveloped in a long grey cavalry cloak, strides 
across the platform with the Empress and his 
children, salutes the waiting officers, pauses for 
a word with each, and then drives away. A long 
row of carriages is in waiting. Everything seems 
admirably organized ; no confusion, no waiting. 
My turn comes, and I am whirled away out of the 
station yard across a road where people are stand- 
ing kept in order by a green-clad Goidarm, along 
a pleasant tree-shaded avenue, past some sentries 
who guard a small iron gate, over the Mopke, a 



44 MEMuRlEb OF THE KAISER'S COURT 



big open gravelled space bordered by fine build- 
ings on each side, and past the front of the huge 
Palace, which reminds one a little of Versailles and 
is built in French Rococo style. I descend at a 
broad flight of stone steps, and am ushered by a 
pleasant-faced footman through what looks like 
a window, but is really a door, into a corridor, up 
a wooden staircase, painted white, to the apart- 
ment which is to be my future home for the next 
few years. It is a lofty, pleasant room, and in spite 
of its bare, uninhabited look, has an air of bright- 
ness and repose. The sunshine floods it with 
gleams of welcome ; outside are trees in which the 
birds are singing ; a little dog in the courtyard 
below, a quaint little beast of the dachshund 
breed, looks up at me as I stand at the open 
French windows and gives his tail a depreca- 
tory wag. He is obviously determined to be 
friendly. 

The New Palace has an alluring aspect. It is 
very palatial of course, looked at as a whole ; but 
there is something very home-like, gracious, and 
friendly in this particular corner of it, in the 
smiling flowers which grow on each balcony, in 
the canary whose notes can be heard trilling from 
the dining-room of the Princess close at hand, in the 
pleasant face of a white-capped elderly housemaid, 
who enters with a bow and a Guten-Tag, and an 
expression of delight at my arrival. She comes 
and shakes hands, and says something congratu- 
latory and welcoming. It is very German, and 
strikes one as intensely pleasant and human, this 
obvious kindness and goodwill. From this hour 
Frau Pusch — the houseniaid — is the cushion and 



HOMBURG-VOR-DER-HOHE 45 

buffer of my existence, intervening between me 
and a harsh world. She teaches me German, 
mends and irons my clothes, packs and unpacks, 
fetches and carries, is always cheerful and 
smiling. 



A 



CHAPTER III 

THE NEW PALACE 

LTHOUGH making personal acquaintance # 
with thirty of the numerous palaces and 
country-houses belonging to the Emperor, 
I only resided in nine, and of these the Neues 
Palais, or New Palace, near Potsdam easily 
held the first place in my affections. For one 
thing it bore the aspect of a permanent home, 
while other perhaps more beautiful royal resi- 
dences partook of the nature of an hotel, in which 
one never quite settled down, but remained 
with boxes only partially unpacked, waiting for 
the notice of departure. 

This fine Palace, situated about twenty miles 
from Berlin, was built in the style of Louis XV 
known as Rococo, on a very marshy piece of 
ground by Frederick the Great, that most notable 
Llohenzollern whose spirit still dominates the 
Prussian nation. Why he did not choose a better 
site, where good sites are so many, must always 
remain one of those mysteries which deepen with 
time. 

" It was probably in a spirit of pure obstinacy," 
said one German officer with whom I discussed the 
subject. " People said it was impossible to build a 
palace on such a spot, and so he set out to prove 

46 



THE NEW PALACE 47 

that it was not. lie also wished to show that there 
was still money left in his coffers after the Silesian 
wars. But he did not really want the palace, and 
never lived in it for any length of time." 

It is a cheerful-looking red building, with queer 
dimpled monstrous cherub heads and wreaths of 
tlowers in yellow sandstone engirdling the upper 
windows. On the edge of the roof and along the 
terrace below stand rows of pseudo-Greek sand- 
^ stone statues in flowing draperies, with whose 
features the frost often takes liberties, making 
necessary a yearly renovation and replacement of 
noses and fingers. Along the raised terraces and 
against the railings stand large orange-trees in 
tubs, which are every autumn taken up to the 
" Orangerie " and brought back to their places in 
the spring. 

On one side lies the big Sand-Hof or gravelled 
courtyard, divided by high iron railings edged 
with grass and flowers from the Mopke, the fine 
wide space where in former days Frederick drilled 
his soldiers. On the other side of the Mopke 
stand the royal stables, the kitchens, the chapel 
of the Palace, and, divided by a beautiful stone 
arcade, the two " Communs," in one of which is 
housed the Palace guard, which occupies the ground 
floor, while the Commandant and his family 
inhabit the first floor. 

The Sand-IIof faces the apartments of the 
Emperor and Empress, which on the other side 
have an outlook onto the spacious garden, laid 
out in trim beds, with fountains on each side — a 
garden to look at rather than to walk in ; but 
hidden away in corners behind big beech hedges. 



48 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

are other shady gardens of trees — rose-gardens, 
with grassy lawns, the children's garden, one with 
a tea-house, where the Emperor and Empress 
breakfast in the summer-time with their family. 

Most old palaces that I have seen are con- 
spicuous for their splendour and still more for 
their inconvenience —they are structurally almost 
incapable of being adapted to modern require- 
ments; and the Neues Palais is no exception to 
this rule, though wonders have been done in the 
matter of the installation of adequate heating 
apparatus and bathrooms. Most of this work 
was accomplished under the superintendence and 
on the initiative of the late Empress Frederick, 
whose practical, energetic mind seems to have 
grappled successfully with the great problems of 
plumbing and domestic efficiency which present 
themselves with perhaps more insistence in palaces 
than elsewhere. 

But there was no way of overcoming the difficulty 
caused by the lack of any passage in the wing 
where the apartment of the Princess was situated 
on the first floor — the Prinzen-W ohnung or Dwelling 
of the Princes as it is called. Here two magnifi- 
cent salons had been transformed into bedrooms, 
one for the Princess, one for the Ober-Gouvernante. 
These were obviously originally intended for recep- 
tion-rooms, having doors at each end and in the 
middle, and were the only means of communica- 
tion between the sitting-room and dining-room, so 
that whoever passed from one to the other was 
perforce obliged to traverse the whole length of 
one of these rooms, unless they went downstairs 
and passed through the courtyard to another 



THE NEW PALACE 49 

staircase, which was what the servants had to do 
in all weathers. 

In a smaller but very beautiful salon forming 
the entrance to the Prinzen-W ohnung a cooking- 
stove had been placed in the massive marble 
fireplace for the purpose of keeping dishes warm, 
for all the food of the Palace is prepared in a 
kitchen situated in the " Communs," a building on 
the far side of the Mopke communicating with 
the Palace by a long underground passage along 
which the dishes are brought. 

Here it may be pointed out that all the stables, 
carriages, kitchens, etc., as well as the palaces 
themselves, are always officially styled " royal," 
not " imperial," as they belong to the Kingdom 
of Prussia and are not part of the appanage of 
the Empire. 

The sitting-room I occupied first on coming to 
the Neues Palais remained just as it had been 
at the time it was built, somewhere about 1770. 
Its walls were covered with small irregular pieces 
of dark blue glass set in cement and carried up 
into the centre of the ceiling, in which was inserted 
a circle of small mirrors where at night, if one 
chanced to look up, one saw the lamplight reflected. 
Over the big marble chimneypiece, bearing the 
cipher of Frederick the Great, was another high 
mirror of the same period (Louis XV) with a 
golden-rayed sun fixed in its upper part. I never 
was able to learn the meaning of this sun, which 
was repeated in other palaces built by the 
famous King of Prussia. 

Above the blue salon was an equally spacious 

bedroom situated at an angle of the palace wing 
4 



50 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

with bull's-eye windows looking north and east. 
It was furnished, like most German bedrooms, to 
serve also as a sitting-room, and contained a sofa, 
a large centre table, and a big escritoire, besides 
the necessary cupboards and wardrobes. It was 
heated in winter by one of those tall chocolate- 
coloured tiled stoves called Kachel-Ofen which 
are so much used in Germany. In cold weather 
the Of en was lit with wood at an early hour of 
the morning, and was supposed, after consuming 
a few logs, to have absorbed enough heat for the 
rest of the day. Though offensive to a sense of 
beauty, the Kachel-Ofen may generally be trusted 
to keep the temperature warm at a minimum of 
expenditure in fuel. 

" I don't know why English people always want 
to look at a fire," said one German lady, defending 
the superior economy and effectiveness of the 
national heating system. '' It isn't the look of a 
fire that warms you. I never felt the cold so 
much anywhere as in England. All that beautiful 
coal warming the chimney, while I sat shivering 
two yards away from it ! " 

Our life at the Neues Palais is less strenuous 
than at Homburg. For one thing the Oher- 
Gouvernante is there, a pale, dark-eyed German in 
whose hands, although she herself has no teaching 
to do, lies the chief responsibility of the education 
of the Princess. Then there is the tutor who gives 
all the German lessons. He has not been in Hom- 
burg, where there was only room to lodge the tutor 
of Prince Joachim. 

The day of the Princess begins with breakfast 
at half-past seven, excepting on Sundays and at 



TllK NKW PALACE 61 

holiday timos. when she takes it at nine with 
her parents and brother. Never was there any 
chikl who galloped through the first meal of the 
day with sueh reckless rapidity. In vain did I 
inveigh against this habit of bolting food, and 
dwell on the horrors, the least of which must 
be an incurable red nose, which invariably lie in 
wait for those thoughtless persons who ignore 
the duty of mastication ; in vain did I quote Mr. 
(iladstone's dictum on the subject, which, though 
it amused and interested her, in no way led to her 
betterment. 

" At fifty, nay at forty — or even sooner, Prin- 
cess," I would sa}^ " you will be a hopeless 
martyr to an outraged internal system. Look 
at Carlyle, the man who wrote about Frederick 
the Great. His whole life was made bitter, the 
happiness of his wife destroyed., his manners and 
temper spoiled, just because as a little boy " 

At this point she usually flung down her knife 
and fork with a clatter, and, the last mouthful 
still unconsumed, at her accustomed whirlwind 
pace, quite unperturbed at what might happen 
at forty, departed to her mother the Empress, 
who always liked to see her daughter before 
lessons began. 

At two minutes to eight she returned breatli- 
Messly — she was always breathless in those early 
days — to the schoolroom, a rather dull, stately 
apartment, with oil-paintings of Prussian Queens 
and Hlectresses of Brandenburg decorating the 
walls. In their stiff brocade dresses they gazed 
out of their gold frames with simpering fixity at 
the two large blackboards, the school desk, the 



52 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

lesson- and exercise-books neatly piled on the 
two plain deal tables. 

Her footman, an elderly, conscientious, invalu- 
able servant of boundless tact and experience, and 
of the greatest assistance in those diiBcult early 
days, would give a glance round to see that every- 
thing was there — clean dusters, chalk, sponge and 
water. The lady on duty — myself or the Oher- 
Gouvernante — would be installed with book or 
needlework in the least obtrusive corner, trying 
to look absolute^ absorbed in her own thoughts, 
for the tutor naturally desired and had a right 
to demand deep concentration on the part of his 
pupil and the elimination of all possibilities of 
distraction. So that when the location of the 
schoolroom had to be changed to the other side 
of the Hof, where the carriages arrived bringing 
gentlemen for audiences with the Emperor, 
studies were often pursued in semi- twilight, the 
blinds being kept permanently down to shut out 
as much as possible of the sights and sounds of 
the outside world. Sometimes a gentle knock 
came at the door, which opened, revealing the 
smilingly- apologetic face of the Empress. She 
would slip in and take the place of the lady and 
pursue her work, while listening to the lesson. 
These incursions of Her Majesty were not always 
regarded favourably by the tutor, who feared that 
they distracted the Princess and made her less 
attentive. 

Some months before she reached her tenth year 
the little Princess had a 3^oung resident tutor, 
who was provided with rooms in the Palace and 
shared some of the duties of Prince Joachim's 



TIIK NEW PALACE 58 

governor, accompiinying the two children and the 
lady " on duty " in thoir afternoon walks. Prince 
Joachim's own tutor, the one who had been in 
Homburg, was a married Professor living in Berlin, 
a \ery clever man, who afterwards, on the Prince's 
departure for Ploen, became tutor to the Princess, 
journeying daily backwards and forwards to 
Berlin' 

(ierman educational methods are astonishingly 
thorough, and make serious demands upon a 
growing child's brain and capacity. It is difihcult 
to know whether to condemn or admire them 
most. They are so thoroughly efHicient — given 
a child who can stand the strain ; but what of the 
thousands who cannot ? I suppose every civilized 
nation, not excepting England, is or has been 
guilty in this respect ; and the Germany of to-day 
is beginning to demand, in the interests of the 
health of her future citizens, some relaxation 
of the tremendous claims made on the growing 
child. 

Education in Germany seems to be strictly 
standardized. At a certain age every child, be he 
prince or peasant, will be in a certain class, learning 
certain subjects ; each 3'ear he will move a grade 
higher, or if he does not, the whole family will 
feel that some dreadful irretrievable disgrace has 
befallen it. The mother will creep about the 
house sighing and swallowing her tears, the father 
will wear a corrugated brow and perceive looming 
in the distance a son who is a zwei-jdhrigcr, that 
is, who must give two years instead of one to 
military service, since he has not passed the neces- 
sary examination which reduces the term by 



54 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

twelve months. This is one of the most terrible 
things which can happen to a German household. 

Girls, though not coming quite under the same 
conditions, have to work just as hard as boys, and 
are quite as keen to be " versetzt" — to get their 
remove. 

So those first lessons of the Princess with that 
energetic cheerful young tutor who had such an 
excellent persistent method of teaching grammar 
and arithmetic, those studies abhorrent to the 
minds of many children, were followed by me 
with the greatest interest. 

That a child of the age of the Princess should be 
expected to say with scarcely a moment's hesita- 
tion how much nineteen times eighteen make, or 
to multiply mentally 342 by 439, appears to the 
unmathematical mind almost unreasonable, yet 
the solution of these problems is an everyday feat 
in every German school. But the answers did 
not always follow as quickly as the tutor desired, 
and often the results were wrong, in which case 
one paralysing hour of arithmetic was followed by 
another. 

Sometimes — with great diffidence, for it was 
entirely outside the range of my duties — I would 
suggest to the tutor that the interposition of a 
history or geography lesson might make a salutary 
change and enable the perplexed child's brain to 
recover its tone. The tutor always listened very 
politely to my expression of opinion, and, though 
obviously disagreeing, deferred to my desire, after 
carefully hinting to the Princess that it was a con- 
cession to feminine weakness of character — 
which made her very angry with me, and she 



THE NKW PALACE 55 

would insist on having more arithmetic straight 
away. 

To any one who has studied German grammar, 
especially those terrible prepositions which are 
always lying in ambush to trip up the unweiry, it 
is not necessary to dilate on its subtle sinuosities. 

One day at the end of a lesson the tutor, glowing 
from a vivid and rapid description and analysis of 
some of the more intricate (jerman constructions, 
showing the malleability of the language and the 
tortuosity into which the pedantic mind of man, 
for his own base purposes, can twist it, turned 
to me from his pupil's discontented, puzzled 
face, for corroboration of his own enthusiastic 
laudation. 

" Nicht wahr, Meess ? " he said, as he closed his 
book. " Is not grammar one of the most beautiful, 
most interesting studies to which one can devote 
one's mind? " 

"It is the most hateful, unnecessary thing 
possible." I replied rather hastily ; "we never 
consciously use it when we speak, we forget it as 
soon as we can. I detest it." 

If I had thrown one of the Dresden china vases 
on the mantelpiece at his head he could not have 
shown more surprise. First, I suppose, at my 
lax ideas of duty, for was I not there to uphold 
the pedagogic principle in season and out of 
season ? Secondly at my attack on Grammar 
itself — Grammar ! the chief corner-stone of the 
temple of Academic Knowledge — which had been 
born of the ages, and would persist long after we 
had perished from the earth. 

All this was plainly to be read in the eye with 



56 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

which he regarded me. The silence that ensued 
was almost painful, the child too astonished, the 
tutor too nonplussed to speak. 

As usual, the feminine mind made the quickest 
self-recovery. The triumphant mien, the flush of 
joy, the sheer delight expressed in the attitude 
of the Princess as she rose up from her chair 
showed that she had come to a crisis in the history 
of her childhood. She had reached the point 
where teachers cease to be oracles, where they 
fall into their right perspective, where differences 
of opinion may be conceded, and where absolute 
right and wrong begin to disappear. In her voice 
was a new tone. 

" Hurrah ! " she shouted, with a distinct accent 
of revolt. ''There! You see, Herr Schmidt, 
there are other people who can't bear grammar. 
Hurrah ! I've heard the truth about grammar 
at last ! " 

And it being the end of the lesson, the bell of 
release ringing at the moment a hearty peal, as 
though in derision of grammar, she danced a sort 
of Indian war-dance in exultation at its dis- 
comfiture in front of her tutor, took me by 
the hand, and dragged me away, leaving Herr 
Schmidt, who, to do him justice, was a man before 
he was a pedagogue, convulsed with good-natured 
laughter. 

The Princess was not at all a docile or an in- 
dustrious child ; her work was careless, owing chiefly 
to the usual breathless rapidity with which she 
did everything. Her spelling was phonetic, and 
she was indignant at English irregularities in 
this respect. Still she was ambitious and fond 




>: ^ 



TIIK NEW PALACE 67 

of approxal. especially from ]\cv hiotlier Prince 
Oscar. 

The Crown Prince and Prince Fritz were, at the 
time of which I write, in Bonn studying at the 
University, Prince Adalbert at Kiel or roaming 
about the world on a warship, as he had chosen 
the navy for a profession ; and the next two 
brothers, Princes August-Wilhelm and Oscar, 
together in Ploen, where they lived in a pleasant 
country house with their governor and various 
teachers, and enjoyed the companionship of the 
young cadets of the aristocratic school — the Eton 
of (icrmany — which is close at hand. 

Morning lessons end at twelve o'clock, and then 
there is a short walk until it is time to dress for 
the one-o'clock FriVistiicks-tafel, which is usually 
eaten in the company of the Emperor and Empress 
and the ladies and gentlemen of the suite. 

We dine in the Apollo Saal, a wonderful room 
decorated with painted panels which rouse the 
indignation of the Ohey-Gonvernante, who objects 
to the scanty draperies and fleshiness of the 
simpering nymphs and Cupids who eternally 
disport themselves among the never-fading gar- 
lands of flowers of the Rococo Period. She cannot 
reconcile them with the otherwise estimable tastes 
and qualities of Frederick the Great, nor realize 
that great minds are composed of a variety of 
opposin.i,' ingredients, and that even famous states- 
men and warriors must occasionally relax the 
sternness of their mental outlook. 

The menu or Speise-Kartc of the royal table is 
invariably written in German, not French ; and 
occasionally English dishes appear on it, their 



58 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

names slightly disguised — as for example " Apple- 
pei" or " Brot-pudding." 

Conversation at the Fruhstucks-tafel or luncheon, 
which is really the principal meal of the day in 
Germany, to which business men in Berlin usually 
devote a couple of hours, is always very animated 
and amusing when the Emperor is present, as he 
is a noted raconteur and possesses a highly-de- 
veloped sense of humour, which helps to mitigate 
the boredom of the ceremonies which dog his 
footsteps. One day he related with the greatest 
gusto how, on returning from a walk alone with 
the Empress, he was refused admission through one 
of the gates by the sentry stationed there — who 
must have been a very unobservant person, or 
brought up in a remote portion of the Empire 
where picture-postcards do not penetrate. The 
soldier was very apologetic, but firm, and addressed 
the Emperor as " Herr Lieutenant," finally re- 
lenting when told that the "Herr Lieutenant" 
wished to visit Herr von Scholl, a Fliigel-adjutant 
(aide-de-camp or equerry) who lived in the Palace. 

German is the language usually spoken at the 
Royal table, except when Enghsh-speaking visitors 
are present : but few of the officers or adjutants 
have a very extensive knowledge of any language 
but their own. The Boer War had at this time 
only just come to an end, and there was a good 
deal of anti-English feeling exhibited everywhere, 
especially in the newspapers; but at the Court 
itself, although the criticism of our military 
methods does not take, as may be expected, a 
very laudatory tone, there is a frank recognition 
of the difficulties of the situation and a genuine 



THE NEW PALACE 59 

deprecation of tlie spiteful venom of the news- 
paper articles, which accuse English officers 
and soldiers of every form of ignoble conduct 
that it is possible for the journahstic mind to 
imagine. 

Soon after the Germans had a native war of 
their own on their hands against the tribe of the 
llereros in South-Wcst Africa; and if they were 
spared the succession of disasters suffered by the 
English, they added nothing to their own military 
glory, and learned a great deal of the difficulties 
of skirmishing in an uninhabited country where 
none of the rules of war in which they have been 
trained seem to apply. Their war lasted for 
four years, and long before it was finished the 
last lingering newspaper scandal against English 
soldiers died away. 

In one disastrous slaughter of a German detach- 
ment ambushed by natives, the only son of the 
captain of the Emperor's little river-steamer 
perished. The poor old grief-stricken father for 
a long time refused to believe the news. " My 
son was a doctor," he would say obstinately ; 
" he was not a soldier. How can he be killed ? 
Doctors are not in the fighting-line. Their place 
is in the rear of the troops." 

Often young officers in khaki who have volun- 
teered for service in Sud-W est-A/rika are invited 
to luncheon before their departure for the seat of 
war. They are strong, handsome, cheery young 
men, full of courage and enthusiasm ; and the 
Princess sighs and wishes that she too could go 
to the war and hght, which aspirations Prince 
Joachim crushes in the heavy masculine manner. 



60 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

After Fruhstilck is finished, and we are able at 
last to escape from the long, tedious waiting that 
follows, the children go out together. Some- 
times the Princess drives those wonderful Turkish 
ponies, which make quite a sensation in the quiet 
old Potsdam streets whenever they appear ; while 
Prince Joachim has a dog-cart of his own drawn 
by a wise old cob called " Freier," who continually 
gets the reins under his tail but stops immediately 
till disentangled. Twice a week the Princess rides 
on horseback, and after a preliminary trial with 
the Sattel-Meister I am pronounced competent to 
accompany her. She is delighted to have my 
society, for hitherto she has had no companion in 
her rides. 

Close to the Neues Palais is the lovely Wild- 
park, a beautiful forest, traversed by sandy paths, 
under great avenues of spreading beech ; and here, 
under the supervision of the Sattel-Meister, accom- 
panied by a couple of small grooms, we indulge 
in many exhilarating gallops. The Princess soon 
develops into a practised and fearless horse- 
woman, with an excellent seat in the saddle and a 
light hand. Before long she is learning to jump 
logs and hedges, to the mingled horror and admira- 
tion of Her Majesty and the Court. Our gallops 
become lang-gestreckt. We ride a good long way 
in a very short time. The Sattel-Meister, who is 
a severe but judicious teacher, smiles amiably 
and proudly at us both as we pull up our sweating 
horses at the lodge gates of the Wildpark prepara- 
tory to the sober walk home. 

Presently we are promoted to rides on the 
Bornstedter Feld, the big cavalry exercise ground 



THE NEW PALACE 61 

about luill d mile away, a sandy plain where we 
can let out our horses and settle down for a long, 
swinging gallop. Nothing makes the Princess 
so happy, so good-tempered, as these rides. They 
are just the outlets she needs for some of her 
exuberant vitality. She returns from them glow- 
ing with satisfaction, and is invariably unhappy 
and irritable if by any chance they are stopped. 

There comes a red-letter day when she is allowed 
to ride at half -past seven to the Bornstedter 
Feld to see the Emperor review a detachment 
of aj'tillery bound for the Herero War. The 
Princess cannot sleep for joy the night before. 
She is almost overcome with the mingled fear and 
delight of riding " with Papa." She sends to my 
room early next morning in case I should over- 
sleep myself, and is ready long before the ap- 
pointed time in her little blue riding-habit and 
straw hat. Down below in the Sand-hof the 
horses are waiting for the Emperor and Empress 
and the large suite which invariably accompanies 
them when they ride. Our own steeds are in a 
little group apart in a corner. There has been a 
sprinkle of rain, but the sun is now shining. We 
drink a cup of tea and nibble at a roll, but are too 
excited to eat much. It is a dubious, an appre- 
hensive joy to ride with " Papa." We are fearful 
of not acquitting ourselves with distinction. Sup- 
posing our horses do anything unexpected, any- 
thing wrong ? 

We go down to the Sand-Hof and mount, and 
ride slowly up and down waiting. The lady in 
attendance on the Empress is already there, and 
a good many adjutants, naval and military, in full- 



62 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 



dress uniform. They all come up and make polite 
observations to the Princess — flattering, com- 
plimentary remarks such as elderly gentlemen are 
in the habit of making to little girls. There is a 
great clattering of swords on the flagged terrace, 
and presently out comes the Emperor in his gay 
Hussar uniform. He bows and mounts, and those 
on horseback have to bring their horses to the 
" front " as he passes. The Empress comes from 
another door, is quickly in the saddle, and she and 
the Princess join the Emperor and ride through 
the big gates on to the Mopke in line together. 
The guard stands stiflly with presented arms as 
the cavalcade passes over the wide drive into the 
beautiful avenue of trees under which we pass. 
The attendant ladies and gentlemen have formed 
up into two rows behind Their Majesties, while a 
group of grooms and minor officials ride in the 
rear. It is a pretty sight, with the sunlight 
sending shafts of gold from the accoutrements, and 
lighting up the gay uniforms and trappings of the 
horses. 

As we pass our schoolroom window I perceive 
the Ober-Gouvernante standing there, and it sud- 
denly strikes me — I had quite forgotten for the 
time — that we are due to begin lessons at eight 
o'clock and it is now a quarter to. Appalling 
thought ! Well, we shall obviously not be there. 
I dismiss any misgivings as I realize the rapture 
expressed in the Princess's back; and when for an 
instant we have a chance of speech together, I 
carefully refrain from mentioning the tutor and 
the vacant schoolroom. 

The line of waiting guns on the artillery field 



1 



THE NEW PALACE 68 

drawn by funny little rough Siberian ponies, who 
l(K)k very stroni; and unkempt and arc driven by 
uR-n in khaki, strike the Trineess as something very 
unusual. From babyhood she has been familiar 
with troops on parade in their gayest, most eix- 
pensive, least practical uniforms, or with troops at 
manceuvres on the march, dusty and sunburned 
and travel-stained ; but never before has she seen 
men stripped of the superfluities of the barrack- 
room, prepared simply for the grim realities of 
war in a far-away country. All the beautiful 
reds and blues left at home, the shining guns 
painted khaki-colour, the men in loose almost 
ill-htting garments sitting on these queer little 
horses. It is very unfamiliar — almost unnatural. 
The fine young commanding officer makes his 
report to the Emperor. The horses have only 
been a fortnight under training, but already acquit 
themselves well and trot and gallop past in an 
exemplary manner at the word of command. The 
little ceremony is soon over, the small group cheer 
their Majesties heartily, and as the Emperor 
departs he calls out " Adieu, KameradenJ' and as 
with one voice they answer " Adieu, Majestdt." 
We leave them standing on the sky-line, brave, 
plucky youths burning with zeal and patriotism, 
they fade into the blue background ; and while the 
Emperor and Empress prolong their ride a little 
farther the Princess and I trot the nearest way 
home to those deserted lessons. 

The gardens of the Neues Palais are separated 
only by a slender railing from those of the small 
Palace of Sans Souci, notable as the residence of 
Trederick the Great. On the hill behind the 



64 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 



1 



Palace, almost overshadowing it, stands the 
famous windmill, the centre of certain legendary 
and probably apocryphal tales. The Palace of 
Sans Souci and its beautiful grounds — called the 
Neuer Garten — remain always open to the public, 
and on Sundays they are crowded with tourists 
and visitors from the surrounding neighbourhood. 
It is the day when the big fountains play, 
one of them decorated with flowers, seen dimly 
through the falling water ; the day when their 
Majesties are sure to drive or walk through the 
gardens to the Garrison Church, which they usually 
attend in Potsdam, where Frederick the Great lies 
buried. Still more it is the day when with 
good luck the Princess may be seen driving with 
her Turkish ponies. For it must be realized that 
Germany — not possessing an early closing day or a 
Saturday half-holiday — spends its Sunday after- 
noons for all its Protestantism in the pure pursuit 
of pleasure. Extra trains, extra steamboats, 
extra trams are run, the open-air restaurants do 
a roaring trade, every public garden, every road 
is overrun with perspiring families, and with 
soldiers walking out with stodgy-looking maid- 
servants in tartan blouses and tight green cotton 
gloves. 

On Sunday the Princess and Prince Joachim 
entertain their small friends to tea and supper. 
First of all they take them for a drive some- 
where in the neighbourhood, to the huge delight 
of the tourists, who shriek and cheer and wave 
pocket-handkerchiefs and rush apoplectically, 
with the greatest risk to their health, from 
remote corners of the Neuer Garten, scudding, 



THE NEW PALACE 65 

these fat fathers and mothers, in their hot Sunday 
clothes along the sandy walks, yelling breath- 
lessly to each other " Die Prinzessin ! Die kleine 
Prinzcssiu. Ach ! wie niedlich ! " They are 
enraptured with the lovely ponies and the blue- 
lined victoria and the little fair-haired Princess, 
who usually has two friends stuffed tightly in 
beside her, while a carriage follows with some more, 
and Prince Joachim has his cartload of boys. 

It was remarkable that, however much we 
attempted to let the boys play by themselves and 
keep the girls to purely feminine amusements, it 
invariably ended in the amalgamation of the two 
parties; that the running and jumping, the gym- 
nastics over the parallel bars, the games of hide- 
and-seek were always keener and swifter when the 
Princess was taking part. There were few boys 
who could beat her at that age in running or 
jumping, and when the Prince's Governor jeered 
at a boy for behaving like a Mddchcn, it was 
easy to retort that one Mddchen could out- jump 
and out-run all his boys, and that he had better 
speak more respectfully in future of the sex. 



m 



CHAPTER IV 

DIVERSIONS OF THE KAISER'S DAUGHTER 



.1 



SHORTLY after our return to the Neues 
Palais a small niece of the Empress, the 
child of her sister the Duchess of Schleswig- 
Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg, came to spend a 
week or two with her cousin. Her visit marked 
the last Expiring effort of the Princess to take an 
interest in her dolls, of which she possessed many 
very beautiful specimens. 

But though she was an amused spectator of 
the unflinching realism with which Princess May 
— an inventive child whose doll-children suffered 
many and varied experiences — shaped the frag- 
ments of her dream of human life, the stormy 
cross-channel journeys, the illnesses and cheerful 
funerals of her large family, it was plain to see 
that she was not in any sense a real partaker in 
the small comedies and dramas. 

Live animals had always from babyhood been 
her great passion. On dogs and horses she 
lavished all the superfluous affection of her heart. 
Dolls had never been to her more than a transitory 
amusement, thrust on her by other people rather 
than chosen by herself. She was exceedingly 
hurt at receiving one the following Christmas, 
sent by an affectionate but injudicious aunt. It 

66 



DIVERSIONS OF THE KAISER'S DAUGHTER G7 

iier\'od her to make a clean sweep of the whole 
lot, and they were divided among various children's 
hospitals. The Empress sighed over this further 
emancipation of her small daughter, but saw its 
inevitability. 

About this time the Emperor, who was staying 
a few days at Cadinen, his country house in East 
Prussia, where he carries out farming operations 
on a large scale, sent the Princess a present after 
her own heart — a tiny dimpled pigling of tender 
years. From my bedroom window I suddenly 
caught sight of this infant swine as, looking newly 
scrubbed and washed, with a bit of blue ribbon 
tied round the tender curve of his tail, he sprinted 
across the Hof pursued by several footmen and 
the two Princesses, who had decreed that exercise 
must be necessary for him after his cramping 
railway journey in a tiny crate. Viewing his 
innocent infantine chubbiness as he darted between 
the legs of the pursuing lackeys, even the sentries 
on duty were forced to relax their military stern- 
ness and smile at his baby antics as he rushed 
about, evading capture for a time. 

The Princess w^as charmed with " Papa's 
Scherkel," and rather annoyed at not being allowed 
to have him in her own rooms; but he was com- 
fortably installed in the stable at Lindstedt, a villa 
belonging to the Emperor standing close to the gate 
of the Neues Palais, where, being a pig of placid 
disposition, he put on flesh at a rapid rate, quickly 
losing the innocent gaiety of his early days, and 
developed weight and fatness day by day, so that 
towards Christmas the usual tragic fate of pigs 
befell him. His mistress suffered no sentimental 



68 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

regrets with regard to his death, eating without 
a qualm the savoury sausages he provided and 
retaining a grateful memory of the nice sum he 
brought her — for naturally, although she never 
paid for his keep, she demanded and received the 
sum for which the butcher purchased his remains. 

" I wish Papa would give me another pig," she 
has been heard to sigh when money was scarce. 
" He was so useful." 

But no other pig arrived. He remained the 
first and last of his tribe. 

The Duchess of Albany and her daughter 
Princess Alice (now Princess Alexander of Teck) 
were for a short time living in Potsdam, while the 
young Duke of Coburg, the son of the Duchess, 
was undergoing his year of military training. He 
afterwards went as a student to Bonn at the same 
time as the Crown Prince and Prince Fritz — and 
eventually married the eldest sister of little 
Princess May of Glucksburg, while her second 
sister, Princess Alexandra, married her cousin 
Prince August Wilhelm, the fourth son of the 
Emperor. 

Princess Alice of Albany and her mother were 
great favourites at the Neues Palais, and frequently 
visited the Empress. One day they were invited 
to meet her at the Marmor Palais, the palace 
formerly occupied by Their Majesties when they 
were first married, before their accession to the 
throne. It had remained empty since that time, 
though now occupied when they are in Potsdam 
by the Crown Prince and Princess and their family 
of little boys. 

Beautifully situated about two miles away from 




- y. 
y. <. 



^ o 

"^ u 

-J. w 

■^ p 

■^ 7. 



< 2; 



DIVERSIONS OF THE KAISER'S DAUGHTER 69 

the Neues Palais, on the border of a lake (the 
Heiligen-See), it was there that the Empress passed 
the happiest years of her married life, and that most 
of her children were born. She always revisited 
it with much pleasure mingled with many regrets. 

A large party of children had been invited, as 
it was the Princess's birthday ; and after playing 
madly about in the garden, they all had tea in the 
big marble dining-room which overlooked the lake, 
where swans were sailing majestically up and down 
the clear blue water. After tea Princess Alice 
invented a delightful new game for the children. 
The idea was to put on the enormous felt slippers 
provided for the boots of the tourists who come 
to inspect the palace, so that they may not scratch 
the beautifully polished inlaid parquet floors ; and 
when everybody had stuck their feet into these 
enormous over-shoes, they began skating madly 
after each other, headed by Princess Alice, rushing 
round and round the various salons which opened 
out of each other, so that they could keep up the 
race without interruption. The sight of so many 
rather small people with such disproportionately 
large feet tearing after each other at breakneck 
speed was irresistibly comic, and the Empress and 
the Duchess were convulsed with laughter. It 
was rather a violent game for a warm September 
day, but when they grew tired of it they still 
played, with the greatest energy, musical chairs, 
post, and blind man's buff, the sun pouring gaily 
in at the windows all the time. 

A month or so after this party took place, about 
the middle of November, the weather suddenly 
changed. It began to freeze hard, and for six 



70 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT ^ 

weeks there was ice everywhere, and everybody 
was able to indulge in skating. 

When the lessons were over we used to jump 
into a carriage with our skates and were driven 
to Charlotten-Hof, a small palace in the park of 
Sans Souci, where was a large sheet of water 
now converted into the most beautiful black ice. 
Nobody was particularly expert on skates, but all 
were keen to learn ; and the Princess and Prince 
Joachim, after a great many tumbles, managed to 
get along at a good pace, though their style was 
hardly of the best. The weather kept beautifully 
clear, with very little snow, and there were some 
very merry skating parties, including the late 
Sir Robert Collins, gentleman-in-waiting to the 
Duchess of Albany, a very graceful expert per- 
former on the ice, and Lady Collins, who like the 
rest of us did not skate very well, but persever- 
ingly kept on trying. The Governor of the Prince 
made many attempts to learn, but never got much 
farther than an ungainly shuffle, for which he 
always apologized, saying that at any rate it kept 
him from freezing. 

Sometimes the Crown Prince would bring a few 
of his friends to play hockey, but as no one knew 
much about rules it was rather a wild and danger- 
ous game. 

The most uncomfortable moments spent on the 
slippery surface, however, were those when the 
Emperor in his warm grey cavalry cloak, surrounded 
by a party of adjutants and officers, was seen wend- 
ing his way in our direction. Inexpert performers 
realized the extreme risk of trying to bow to 
Majesty on skates, and invariably fled to the 



DIVERSIONS OF TIIK KAISER'S DAUGHTER 71 

sholtor of a small island covered with bushes 
which was in one corner of the lake. 

Misfortunes in the way of tumbles caused an 
unholy joy in the Emperor's heart. It pleased 
him to see people lose their dignity ; and on one 
occasion, when Princess Alice and I, skating with 
great dash and confidence hand-in-hand, came 
after a convulsive flounder to a sudden fall, the 
Imperial laughter floated most whole-heartedly 
and derisively over our prostrate bodies. 

Ladders and ropes were always laid ready on 
the bank in case of accident ; and one afternoon 
when Prince Oscar was with us — having come over 
from Ploen for a few days — he and the Princess 
decided to practise a little life-saving. I on my 
skates represented to the best of my ability the 
victim of an ice catastrophe, lying down and 
clutching at the rope, which after many mis- 
directed efforts they managed to throw in my 
direction ; but when it came to pulling me out, 
although I was not in, but already on the surface 
of the ice, their well-meant endeavours only re- 
sulted in themselves being dragged backwards 
accompanied by shrieks of laughter, while I re- 
mained exactly where I had been before. Some- 
bod}' must have mentioned this attempt to the 
Emperor, for the next day when he came to the ice 
he wanted to know how I liked being " rescued." 

" They didn't rescue me one inch, Your Majesty," 
I was obliged to reply ; "I should have been 
drowned ten times over." 

He chuckled very much over this failure to pull 
me along, and would, I am sure, have liked to see 
the experiment repeated in his presence. 



72 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

" And you so thin and light ! " he laughed as 
he departed. 

Another game of hockey was played one after- 
noon, but not this time on the ice. Five of the 
princes took part in it — the Crown Prince and 
Prince Fritz captaining their respective sides. It 
was a wild, weird game. The Princess after 
many entreaties had been allowed to play ** for 
a short time" on Prince Fritz's side, together 
with a few young officers, the French teacher of 
Prince Joachim, and a Kammer-Herr of Her 
Majesty, who thought he would like to take part 
in the game. He said later that it was the first and 
last time he ever played or desired to play hockey. 

The game took place on the broad drive in front 
of the Palace, and the only rule which guided it 
was a feverish desire on everybody's part to send 
the ball into the opposite goal. There was no 
referee, no off-side, nobody was more of a *' for- 
ward" than a *' back," and anybody kept goal 
who happened to be near enough to it ; but the 
play was permeated by a fine and splendid enthu- 
siasm which atoned for many shortcomings. The 
German sporting instinct was there sure enough, 
undeveloped and somewhat dormant it may be, 
but none the less ready to germinate under favour- 
able conditions. Some players emerged rather 
battered from the fray. The French tutor had 
fallen and scraped his chin on the gravel, the 
Kammer-Herr had, as the result of a blow, a 
swollen knuckle which kept him company some 
weeks, while Prince Oscar limped slightly for the 
rest of the day. 

One of the tiresome ceremonies incident to royal 



DIVERSIONS OF THE KAISER'S DAUGHTER 73 

existence is the incessant turning out of the guard 
whenever any one of royal or princely blood 
emerges into view of the sentry. This became 
especially worrying when the children happened 
to wander about backwards and forwards between 
the two " Plofs." One heard a clatter of boot- 
soles as the soldiers, perhaps in the middle of 
eating their soup, rushed out, seized their weapons 
from the rack where they stood, and formed up 
in line in stiff military attitudes presenting arms 
at the word of command. It was usual for the 
Governor of Prince Joachim, who was himself a 
Captain in the army, to give a signal to the guard 
that these honours were for the nonce in abeyance, 
or the Princess or Prince — if they remembered — 
might do the same. 

In the first week of her visit. Princess May of 
Glucksburg, who was running about between the 
Mopke and the Kleiner Hof, noticed the unusual 
restlessness of the guard, who were in and out of 
the guard-house every five minutes or less ; but 
it was some time before she connected their 
movements with herself, being absorbed in giving 
" Jacky," the Princess's dog, a ride in a small 
hand-cart. She had hitherto led a quiet life in 
the ancestral Schloss away in the country, un- 
trammelled by guards or sentries of any kind. 

When she realized that these honours were being 
lavished on her own small person, and that she 
ought to have waved her finger backwards and 
forwards at the soldiers in sign of dismissal, she 
was much abashed, and as she was far too shy 
to shake her finger at any one, preferred to choose 
a more retired spot in which to play. 



74 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

Besides the Turkish ponies before mentioned, 
the Prince and Princess possessed two very small 
mouse-coloured Sicilian donkeys given to them 
by the King of Italy, each of which drew a small 
Sicilian cart, painted in gay colours with scenes 
from the lives of the saints. These animals wore 
red brass-studded harness, and nodding plumes 
made of cock-feathers dyed crimson waved from 
their heads. They made a very pretty picture as 
they ambled one behind the other over the wide 
Mopke, and often when children were invited to 
spend the afternoon the donkey-carts were requi- 
sitioned. They were a continual source of joy 
to small visitors and of acute anxiety to those 
in charge ; for in spite of their innocent looks and 
their small size, the donkeys were the least docile 
animals that could be imagined, and as the carts 
were rather small and top-heavy, there was con- 
stant danger of an upset. Sometimes the donkeys, 
after a spell of good behaviour, would start running 
away, or suddenly make preparations to lie down, 
the children falling out of the cart like a small 
avalanche. After the animals had taken a short 
rest — ^for nothing would make them get up before 
they felt inclined — they would start merrily off 
again, and the Governor and I, who were too heavy 
for the carts, had to keep on running after them, 
*' faint yet pursuing," be the weather as hot as 
it might. 

The way those beasts whizzed the carts round 
corners on only one wheel was nothing short of phe- 
nomenal, and they possessed a diabolical strength 
which set at naught any efforts of the groom who 
was supposed to control them in case of need. 



DIVERSIONS OF THE KAISER'S DAUGHTER 75 

One day the little terrier " Jarky" took it into 
his head to bite one of the donkeys, who imme- 
iliately went helter-skelter over the flower-beds, 
dragging the empty cart behind him as well as the 
unlucky stable-man who happened to be holding 
the reins and fell down at an early stage of the 
1 proceedings. Fortunately it happened in a small 
enclosed garden surrounded by high hedges, but 
it might have been a serious business if one or 
two soldiers had not happened to be passing and 
helped us to restrain the donkey, who kicked and 
capered and waltzed over the rose-bushes, jerking 
the man after him, his face cut, his clothes torn, 
while the iniquitous " Jacky," delighted at the 
performance, raged round in a frenzy of barking, 
doing all he could to urge the poor terrified 
donkey to fresh efforts. 

Happily, when the long-expected accident 
arrived, it happened under Her Majesty's immedi- 
ate notice, so that she was at once convinced of 
the danger to the children of these ill-trained 
little creatures, and ordered that they should never 
appear again. They were sent to the country and 
employed on the land in regular work, which was 
what they needed. The Princess was the one who 
suffered, being tipped out of the cart and sus- 
taining a rather severe cut on her knee, invohing 
a three days* suspension of lessons and complete 
repose of the injured limb — rather a severe trial 
for such an active child. 

In wet or frosty weather, the rides in the 
forest had to be given up, and we were forced 
to take horse-exercise in the Reit-Bahn or big 
covered riding-school attached to the Royal Mews 



76 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

or Marstall. A layer of sawdust covered the floor 
of the Bahn, and our Sattel-Meister, Herr Casper, 
professed himself delighted to have the oppor- 
tunity of furthering our equestrian education. 
We took lessons in making " voltes " and circles 
at the word of command, in " passaging " ; we 
galloped and trotted and enjoyed ourselves im- 
mensely, while the rain beat outside or the snow 
fell in thick flurries. The Bahn was furnished 
with mirrors in which we could get glimpses of 
ourselves as we cantered past. Sometimes the 
Empress and one of her ladies also rode with us. 
Her Majesty is very fond of horse exercise, and 
though not enamoured of cross-country^ riding, 
still enjoys a good stretching canter. 

Nowhere are there better opportunities for this 
than in the neighbourhood of Potsdam. Every road, 
with its beautiful row of trees on either hand, pos- 
sesses a carefully kept sandy riding-track on one 
side. Then there are immense woods and the Govern- 
ment forest, all unenclosed, and unfenced fields 
where one can canter to heart's desire along excel- 
lent riding -paths. The whole of Central Germany, 
more especially the Mark Brandenburg, in which 
Berlin and Potsdam are situated, is one vast plain 
of light sandy soil, made exceedingly fertile by 
'* intensive " cultivation. Watered by the river 
Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, which expands 
into five great lakes surrounding the town, Pots- 
dam is, as Carlyle calls it, an " intricate amphi- 
bious region," more water than land, partaking, 
though a peninsula, of the nature of an island. 
Its inhabitants indulge largely in swimming and 
boating on the placid waters which run up into 



DIVERSIONS OF THE KAISER'S DAUGHTER 77 

the streets in irregular creeks and bays. Great 
beds of rushes skirt the borders of the lakes, while 
the thick forest comes down to the water's edge. 

The town itself is picturesque and old-fashioned, 
with cobbled roads extremely painful to walk 
upon. Many of its houses were built in the 
time of Frederick the Great and inhabited by 
his marshals and generals. Its streets have a 
somnolent old-world air, and its society is very 
aristocratic and exclusive, containing as it does 
the cream of Prussian Junkerdom. Several 
younger sons of princely houses, officers in the 
crack regiments of the guards, live with their wives 
and children in Potsdam. Occasionally, on wet 
Sundays, some of these little princes and prin- 
cesses came to spend the afternoon, and " Mimi 
Hohenzollern," now married to King Manoel of 
Portugal, was a fairly frequent guest. One dull 
November Sunday evening we had an unusual 
number of children— about twenty — some of them 
quite small and rather an anxiety, for the nurses 
and governesses who accompanied them were 
sent to wait downstairs, while Herr Schmidt in 
charge of the boys and myself in charge of the 
little girls were left to cope with all these rather 
lively young people. They played after tea at 
circus in the big Turn-Saal at the top of the Palace, 
where there was plenty of room to romp about, 
and were just pondering what the next game 
should be, when Herr Schmidt, inspired by some 
imp of malice, made the suggestion that they 
should all go to the theatre in the dark. 

The private theatre of the Neues Palais, built 
by Frederick the Great for the representation of 



78 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

French plays, was situated in the farthest wing 
of the castle, the way to it lying through chilly, 
unlit, unwarmed passages. The whole horde of 
children — ^hopeful scions of princely houses whose 
names, though unknown in England, permeate 
the " Almanac de Gotha," and occasionally 
emerge into prominence in connection with some 
royal or imperial marriage — were rushing like 
the Gadarene swine towards certain destruction. 
Those slippery marble staircases ! Those shallow 
balustrades ! The darkness and the cold ! 
Terrible " Schnupfen " — the devastating colds 
with which in a steam-heated country one is 
eternally warring — ^would be the least evil that 
could possibly happen to them. 

Herr Schmidt, like an overgrown schoolboy, was 
laughing gleefully at the stampede. 

Fortunately they were stopped at the next 
staircase, where the faint gleam of a lamp served to 
show the black shadows of the descent, and were 
brought back, much disappointed, to play a 
"humdrum game," as the Princess called it, of 
hide-and-seek. 

The Emperor to his sons was stern enough, and 
saw that Prince Joachim was shortly despatched 
to join his brothers at school in Ploen, but to- 
wards his little daughter he allowed himself, 
perhaps unconsciously, to be somewhat lenient. 
Her bright alert intelligence evidently responded 
to something in himself ; her constantly ex- 
hibited affection, her love for his society flattered 
him irresistibly, as they would any father in the 
world. He wrote long letters to her when away, 
sent her picture-postcards and small trifling 



DIVEIISIONS OF THE KAISKll'S DAUGHTER 79 

proscnls from places where he was staying. Her 
lust letter to him in English was something of 
an event, written with the greatest care and after 
iniicli anxious consultation with me as to the 
intricacies of " that awful English spelling." It 
received an immediate and flattering reply, also 
in English. 

" Papa was delighted with my letter," she said, 
her face glowing with happiness. 

On every possible opportunity the Emperor 
liked to have his daughter with him ; would seize 
and carry her off, sticking her bodkin-wise in the 
carriage between himself and the Empress. He 
never troubled much if she missed a few lessons. 
He was no believer in higher education for women. 

One afternoon, on a birthday or some other 
anniversary, the band of the Potsdam Guards had 
been ordered to perform at the Palace, and as, 
owing to the heavy rain, they were not able to 
remain outside on the terrace, they were installed 
in the large Marmor Saal, where they played 
before the Emperor and Empress. 

His Majesty stood alone in front of the band 
for some time, moving his body and limbs in time 
to the music, while the Princess and Prince Joachim, 
at a distance of a few 3'ards, were doing the same 
thing, all three wriggling the left leg in time to- 
gether and looking rather like marionettes jerked 
by a string. 

The bandmaster continued gravely to beat 
time, when suddenly PI is Majest}^ made a sign 
to one of liis adjutants, who immediately handed 
him a conductor's baton, and the Emperor began 
to assist to conduct, while the two children, each 



80 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

raising a forefinger, did their little best also to 
help. 

Some members of the band looked a little sur- 
prised at having no less than four conductors 
and four different time-beats to follow, but after 
a time they settled down again, and keeping their 
eyes firmly fixed on the music, played triumphantly 
to the end. 

His Majesty has not a highly cultivated taste in 
music. He likes something military in style, with 
well-marked time and rhythm, and Wagner makes 
no appeal to his tastes. 

His patronage of the art has been singularly 
unfortunate, and all the operatic pieces to which 
he has stood godfather are always played to very 
thin houses. He comforts himself by inveighing 
against the want of musical taste shown by Berlin 
audiences. The critics treat these pieces with 
contempt, ignoring their existence, and the news- 
papers publish a bare announcement that they 
have been performed, and make no further com- 
ment. 

Within the last two years the Emperor has had 
an Opera constructed as a setting for various 
dances performed in Corfu by the peasants there. 
At great expense the Director of the Opera-House 
has had to send professionals to study the various 
dances on the spot, to copy the Corfiote costumes, 
and to paint the scenery of the island. But trans- 
planted from Corfu and its picturesque surround- 
ings to the Berlin Opera-stage, these dances 
appear excessively dull and meaningless, and are 
not in the least redeemed by the accompanjdng 
music founded on ancient Greek melodies. 



DIVERSIONS OF THE KAISER'S DAUGHTER 81 

This opera was i)layo(l before King George and 
Queen Mary on the last evening of their stay in 
Berhn, two days after the wedding of the Emperor's 
daughter. 

None of the cliildren of the Kaiser, with the 
exception of the Crown Prince, who learned to 
play the violin fairly well, have ever mastered 
any musical instrument. For some years the 
Princess made strenuous efforts to learn the piano, 
but in spite of her love of music she was never able 
to play even the simplest piece approximately 
correctly. Various professors of the art came and 
went— came with the joyous glow caused by the 
honour of teaching royalty, only to retire baffled 
after a few lessons. 

At last, when the Princess was about fourteen, 
she gave up the unequal contest, and refused to 
waste more time in efforts to attain the unattain- 
able. 

Occasionally she has been heard to reproach 
any of her companions who had no yearnings 
after musical instruction. 

" You don't want to learn the piano ? But 
supposing you happen to marry a musical husband, 
whatever should you do if you couldn't play to 
him ? " 

" Well, he would probably be happier if I didn't 
play to him," replied one child of conspicuous 
good sense. 

This observation helped the Princess to realize 
that piano-playing of the baser sort was not a 
necessary ingredient of happy matrimony, and she 
shortly afterwards renounced further ambitions 
in that direction. 



82 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 



if 



Nor in the domain of painting and drawing, 
though fond of both, did she accompHsh any- 
thing noteworthy, as she did not possess the 
necessary perseverance and patience, and was 
always too eager to arrive at the effect ; so that her 
pictures, Hke her music, always promised some- 
thing that was never realized. For outdoor 
sketching she professed a great affection, but it 
was probably the " outdoorness " more than the 
sketching that she really loved. 

As a child, animals, particularly horses, were 
her great passion, and she paid many Sunday 
afternoon visits to Busch's Circus in Berlin, where 
a large party of little boys and girls were also 
invited to fill up the royal box. 

The Berlin populace who crowd the Circus on 
Sundays were delighted to see the " Kleine Prin- 
zessin/' as they loved to call her, enjoying herself 
in their midst. 

Tea was always served after the performance 
in the flower-bedecked room behind the box, 
where the Herr Cirkus-Direktor appeared in his 
dress suit to receive the thanks and congratula- 
tions of the Princess, who asked interested ques- 
tions about the performing horses and told him 
how beautifully her own little Arab mare could 
do the " Spanish trot." She enjoyed these circus 
performances and the sawdust and smells, and the 
faces of the good Berliners turned as one man 
towards the royal box in the intervals. Then 
there was the return to the station through the 
big Sunday crowd along the Linden, where the 
people stood patiently waiting to see the carriages 
pass, waving pocket-handkerchiefs and bowing, 



niVKRSIOXS OK rilK KAISKR'S DAUGHTER 83 

and sliDuting " Hoch Icbe die klcinc Pnnzessin/' 
and wearing those expansive smiles, all of the same 
width and pattern, to whicli one soon grew accus- 
tomed as part of the Sunday performance. 

And if it was not the circus then it was the 
theatre — WUhdm Tell or Wallenstcin, or sometimes 
on special occasions even the Opera. It is not 
known at what age the Princess was first intro- 
duced to Opera, but it must have been at a 
very early one. She was quite an old habitue 
when 1 hrst knew her. 

When Beerbohm Tree came with his company to 
Berlin for a week or ten days, to show the Germans 
something about stage-management, the Empress 
wished the Princess to see the English actor, but 
feared there was nothing very suitable in his reper- 
toire. However, after carefully re-reading Richard II 
she decided that it was a very suitable play for 
stimulating historical interest, and the Princess, to 
her joy, accompanied Their Majesties. She was 
delighted with Miss Viola Tree, who, as the Queen, 
came riding on to the stage on a gallant white 
horse in gorgeous trappings — one that belonged 
to the royal stables and had often eaten sugar 
from the Princess's hand. She saw Beerbohm Tree 
as Richard II dying in his dungeon, and was able 
next day to reproduce his words, his gestures, 
even the peculiar characteristic tones of his voice 
exactly, for she had great gifts of mimicry, and 
her talent ranged from the reproduction of the 
antics of " Sally," the pet chimpanzee of the 
Berlin " Zoo," to the dignihed gestures of a Julius 
Cassar. 
Beerbohm Tree's stay in Berlin must have been 



84 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

fraught to him with pecuHar anxiety, for on the 
Sunday (when he gave two performances) all his 
German scene-shifters deserted him to go to the 
funeral of a notable Socialist, and he was left 
to grapple as he could with the situation. There 
were terribly long waits between the scenes of 
Antony and Cleopatra, at which Their Majesties 
were present, and once the curtain went up prema- 
turely, revealing British stage-carpenters among 
the splendours of ancient Egypt. 

The visits of the Princess to the theatre often 
involved the " Intendant " or Director in some 
anxiety, as he was asked by the Empress to select 
some play which would be, if not suitable, at 
least inoffensive : for on this point the Empress 
was very particular. One Director, wishing to 
please in this respect, had struck out of one piece 
the only line he could find capable of offence, but 
was assured by one of His Majesty's adjutants 
that there was another part which he was certain 
ought to be slightly altered, though he couldn't 
quite recollect where it came in. The unfortunate 
Director spent every spare moment up to the per- 
formance trying to run to ground the objection- 
able lines, but never was able to find them, as they 
did not exist, and had only been suggested to him 
out of " pure cussedness " by the wicked adjutant 
in question, who chuckled with unholy pleasure 
at the success of his little joke — especially when 
he found two of the court ladies feverishly search- 
ing the pages of their Schiller with the hope of 
helping the Director in his quest. 

The Berlin Opera House, which stands only a 
few yards from the Royal Schloss, was built by 



DIVERSIONS OF THE KAISER'S DAUGHTER 85 

FrodiTick tlio Great, and thoiip^h a fine biiildinp^, is 
liardly up-to-date in its accommodation for either 
performers or audience. After the terrible theatre- 
lire in Chicago where, for want of adequate exits, 
many H\es were lost, ver}^ hideous iron staircases 
were constructed outside it by order of the Emperor; 
and these, while giving perhaps some additional 
sense of security to the audience, altogether spoil 
the appearance of the building — which His Majesty 
is anxious to replace by a new one constructed 
on modern lines in a style of architecture suitable 
to its surroundings. 

A Berlin Opera audience is not conspicuous for 
smartness, and a few years ago morning blouses 
and tweed skirts, with a pair of rather weary 
white kid gloves, were considered by the ladies as 
quite sufficient for the Parkett (stalls) ; but by dint 
of special orders from the Emperor and the ex- 
ample of a few well-known ladies a decided im- 
provement in dress is now observable. Officers 
in their uniforms are plentifully besprinkled 
among the audience, as they can get tickets at 
reduced prices. 

Whenever the Emperor's presence is announced 
beforehand no one is admitted who is not in 
evening dress. This order was for a time not 
strictly enforced, and a good proportion of the 
audience even after repeated warnings habitually 
ignored it ; but on one occasion all whose dress 
did not come up to the required standard — ladies 
whose gown was not ausgeschnitten, men who had 
omitted to put on the regulation suit — were politely 
but firmly refused admission and advised to go 
home again and change ! There was much anger 



86 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

and heart-burning, but no one now fails to obey 
the imperial mandate. 

On the Emperor's birthday, and when the 
visits of foreign potentates take place, no tickets 
are sold and the seats are occupied entirely by 
guests invited by His Majesty. A splendidly 
brilliant spectacle is presented on these occasions. 
The whole house is decorated with wreaths of 
flowers, the Parkett filled entirely with the gentle- 
men of the Diplomatic Corps, Ambassadors and 
envoys from the remotest parts of the world. 
Chinese mandarins in yellow silk robes, wearing 
peacocks' feathers in their caps, Turks and 
Egyptians in red fezes, all mingle with the uni- 
forms of every existing army into a wonderful 
mass of scintillating colour. The ladies on these 
occasions are seated in the dress circle, in a line 
with the Royal Box which is crowded with princely 
personages. 

Before the entrance of the Emperor and Empress 
the Intendant of the Theatre in full uniform comes 
to the front of the box and taps loudly three times 
on the floor with his wand of office, and at once 
that queer gabbling jargon of incoherent sound 
which rises from a crowd of people talking together 
is suddenly hushed into a complete silence, in 
which Their Majesties with their guests slowly 
advance, bow to the audience and take their 
places. 

I invariably received a ticket for a stage box on 
these occasions, the best possible place for an un- 
interrupted view of the house. 

From this point of vantage at different times 
I saw many notable royal personalities, among 



DIVERSIONS OF THE KAISER'S DAUGHTER 87 

others the late King Edward with Queen Alexandra, 
who visited Berlin the year before the King's 
death. The performance on these occasions was 
always short and not too absorbing, and on King 
Edward's visit the spectacular play of Sardana- 
palus was given, which strictly speaking is hardly 
to be classed with opera at all, consisting as it does 
of a series of splendid pictures interspersed with 
songs. The last scene of all is a very realistic and 
vivid representation of the funeral pyre of Sardana- 
palus, whither slaves bring all the treasures of the 
house to be consumed by the fire, which, beginning 
with little licking tongues of flame, soon spreads 
to a wide and vivid blaze, in which Sardanapalus 
and all his household perish. 

At the moment before the curtain finally de- 
scends the whole stage has the appearance of a 
glowing furnace threaded with leaping flames 
and rolling billows of smoke. 

King Edward, being ver^^ tired with his hard 
day's work in Berlin, had indulged in a short nap 
during the scene, and woke to consciousness at 
the moment of most intense conflagration, when 
he was for a few moments much excited and 
alarmed, believing that the fire was real and 
wondering why the firemen stationed at the wings 
had not yet become active. With some difficulty 
the Empress managed to convince him that there 
was no danger. 



CHAPTER V 

CHRISTMAS AT COURT 

CHRISTMAS at Court, as elsewhere, was a 
time of jubilant festivity preceded by long 
weeks of hard work and preparation. As 
the Princess herself remarked, " one never dare 
sit down and think for a minute without a piece 
of work in one's hand." 

Somewhere about the middle of November, or 
even earlier, was the great time in Berlin for charity 
bazaars, which the Court ladies assiduously at- 
tended, making large purchases of clothing on 
behalf of Her Majesty. I often accompanied one 
of them to the various big shops of Berlin, and 
gasped at the prompt and wholesale manner of 
her orders — fifteen cushions and twenty-five photo- 
graph frames being selected in as many seconds, 
together with other objects in like proportion. 

Enormous bales of goods began to arrive, and 
were placed in the M armor Saal, a splendid apart- 
ment which was used on great occasions for the 
entertainment of royal guests, but in the weeks 
before Christmas took on a more homely human 
aspect, being piled up with warm garments of 
every description, heaps of toys, books, almanacks, 
cakes of soap, boots and shoes. 

Every man, woman and child having any 
connection with the royal estates in Cadinen, 

88 



CHRISTMAS AT COURT 89 

llubertus-stock, Romintcn, Ncucs Palais or Berlin 
was rcnicnibcMcd, and the work in\'olved in choos- 
ing their various gifts was always personally 
superintended and shared by Her Majesty, the 
Princess and the ladies of the Court. I can still 
feel in my nose the disagreeable tingle, analogous to 
a mild form of hay fever, caused by the flufliness 
of those multitudinous piles of flannelette gar- 
ments, thick woolly stockings and socks which I 
helped to sort and count. The Inspekior (agent) 
or clergyman of every district had to furnish 
a list of every family in it, with the name and 
age of each member of it accurately inscribed. 
Ever\^body received one garment at least, to- 
gether with a toy (if a child), a book, a text, 
and one or two packages of Pfeffer-Kuchen. 
Each bundle was tied up separately with pink 
or blue tape, and labelled with the name of the 
person for whom it was intended, together with 
the hst of gifts. 

Often there w^ere families of nine or ten 
children, and nearty every year one more infant 
was added to their list. The Empress when 
distributing the cakes of soap would relate how 
the good peasants at first preferred to keep them 
as souvenirs rather than use them for their legiti- 
mate purpose, bringing them out with pride to 
show to Her Majesty a year or so later, carefull}^ 
wrapped up and put away. 

One of those persons whose idea of the 
Gennan Empress is that slie spends her life in a 
series of domestic duties once sent for her accept- 
ance a small parcel, together with the following 
letter : 



90 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

" Most Excellent Majesty, Berlin. 
" Most Gracious Empress, 

" May it please your Majesty. I crave 
your Majesty's patronage, hailing from the 
Emerald Isle : the enclose (^sic) cover for painting 
arranging china is procurable in any shade of linen. 
I have the honour to remain with the profoundest 
veneration, 

" Your Majesty's most dutiful servant, 

" James Barker (Belfast) " 

The '' enclose cover " was a green apron with 
a nice large pocket in what is called, I believe, 
" art shade," but as such gifts are never accepted 
without payment it was put on one side with the 
idea of being returned. Her Majesty, however, 
happening to need something as a protection for 
her dress when handling the before-mentioned 
fluffy garments, found that the green apron 
supplied a distinct want, and it was worn every 
day by the Empress for the next few weeks. 
Obviously "James Barker," even if his literary 
style was not of the highest order, had an instinct 
for supplying the right thing at the right moment. 
The ** Irish apron" was the subject of constant 
praise, and during " the wearin' o' the green " 
Her Majesty frequently expressed her appreciation 
of its practical utility. It was, I believe, the only 
apron Her Majesty ever wore. ^ 

To the Princess personally, the approach of 
Christmas was a serious time for many reasons, 
chiefly financial. Until she was sevei^een she 
received only a personal allowance of five marks 
a month, out of which she was supposed to buy 



CHRISTMAS AT COURT 91 

her own stamps and to spare a Sunday contribu- 
tion towards the collection. It may perhaps be a 
breach of confidence to reveal that this contribution 
was never allowed to exceed ten pfennigs, amount- 
ing to one penny in English coin ; and I can never 
forget the look of sorrowful indignation when I 
tendered to her one day in chapel, out of pure 
inadvertence, the smallest silver coin of German 
currency, a fifty-pfennig-piece, worth a little less 
tlian sixpence. She had to put it in the plate, 
but absolutcl}' refused to refund me the excess 
value. 

" How am I to bu}^ my stamps when you are 
so reckless ? " she demanded when outside the 
chapel door. 

The balancing of her small accounts was always 
fraught with many sighs and groans. 

" Always thirty-five pfennigs too little," she 
would announce as she drew the final double line. 
She had the greatest sympathy with Mr. Micawber 
when we read " David Copperfield " together, and 
agreed heartily with his dictum that, given an 
income of twenty pounds a year, the spending of 
nineteen pounds nineteen shillings and sixpence 
would result in happiness, but that if the expendi- 
ture reached twenty pounds and sixpence it would 
spell misery. So that as soon as Christmas began 
to loom in the distance there were many anxious 
consultations as to how to obtain the necessary 
presents for her various relations. Of course 
" Papa and Mamma" had to have something very 
special and individual worked by herself — any- 
thing bought ready-made in a shop was not to 
be thought of. 



92 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

" Cushions and lampshades seem to be the only 
things one can make oneself," said the Princess 
disconsolately, ''and Mamma has twenty-four 
lampshades already and dozens and dozens of 
cushions. We must think of something cheap too. 
I'm so awfully poor." 

Year after year this problem re-emerged. For- 
tunately the powers that controlled the purse- 
strings decreed that all materials for presents 
should be bought out of the Princess's own money, 
but that in the matter of " making up " the ex- 
chequer would provide the needful funds. 

So the harassed child was forced into the manu- 
facture of those articles which are cheap in the 
initial outlay but rather expensive to complete, 
such as slippers, worked picture -frames, cushions, 
and so on. 

One Christmas, at an acute crisis when for some 
reason the list of presents expanded to twenty- 
eight, the advent into fashion of ribbon-work 
saved her from despair. She begged some odd 
pieces of silk and brocade from Her Majesty's 
workroom for the purpose of making glove and 
handkerchief sachets. Ribbon-work is, as every- 
one knows who has done it, capable, especially 
the broad kind, of making the maximum of effect 
with the minimum of effort. So while I hastily 
sketched simple but pleasing designs of apple- 
blossom or violets on the corners of everything, 
the Princess sat and worked feverishly. She was 
an indefatigable and rapid needlewoman — perhaps 
a little too rapid to be very accurate — and got 
through a tremendous amount of work, sticking 
to it hour after hour if the occasion demanded it 



CHRISTMAS AT COURT 93 

and any one would read to her. To this day 
certain portions of " Kidnapped" or " Hereward " 
seem inextricably interwoven in my mind with the 
sound of those long-drawn gay ribbons and an 
intensely absorbed face surrounded by tumbled 
golden hair, bending in the lamplight over her 
self-imposed task. 

Sometimes the Princess and Prince Joachim when 
they were sitting in the evening with the Empress 
would both be working at the very Christmas 
present destined for her, and she was therefore 
bound, under often-reiterated promises, to ignore 
what they were doing and to turn her eyes con- 
scientiously in another direction. Her Majesty 
often laughingly complained of the suspicions 
they both harboured as to her integrity in this 
matter. They would erect newspaper screens 
around themselves and their occupations, and if 
the screens fell down, as frequently happened, 
then ** Mamma " had to shut her eyes or turn away 
her head until they were temporarily re-erected, 
only to fall down again in another five minutes. 

About three weeks or less before Christmas, a 
further inroad on our time was made by the 
practice of carol-singing, which took place (on 
account of the piano) in the salon of the Princess, 
leading out of that of the Oher-Gouvernante. 
Every one of the ladies and gentlemen of the 
Palace possessing the very faintest pretension to 
vocal ability was pressed into the service, and the 
unfortunate Hof-Prediger or Court Chaplain, who 
undertook the herculean task of training this 
very scratch choir to sing together in some kind 
of time and tune, was, especially as he was a very 



94 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

musical man, much to be pitied ; but with unf aiHng 
good-humour he bravely battled with his task. 

All the sons of the Emperor on leaving the 
University have homes and households of their own 
provided in Potsdam, where they live until they 
marry ; and these Princes, with their adjutants, 
were invited to come and help to swell the chorus, 
and, as they stayed in the Neues Palais itself 
during Christmas week, were, although they 
grew a little restive under the process, constantly 
summoned from their rooms for *' one more 
practice." 

One of their adjutants was a great disappoint- 
ment to us. We had built great hopes upon him, 
as he had declared himself capable of singing 
bass, but his idea was to boom out the air an 
octave below the treble, which was of course very 
unsatisfactory. 

By means of ceaseless drilling and practising 
the Princess and Prince Joachim had been taught 
to sing alto ; the Hof-Prediger himself sang tenor ; 
and as the ladies managed the treble very well 
we had great hopes of being able to perform 
a capella, that is without instrumental accom- 
paniment. But, however well we sang beforehand, 
at the critical moment this design had always to be 
abandoned. Somebody had a cold, or another 
was not sure of a C sharp, and most of us were 
frightfully nervous, so that after much discussion 
and wrangling we invariably fell back on the 
support of the piano. 

These carols, Stille Nacht, Kommet ihr Kinder, 
and others were to be performed first before 
the assembled maids, footmen and Jagers who 



CHRISTMAS AT COURT 95 

came to receive presents from Her Majesty, and 
afterwards before the Emperor himself, so that 
we naturally were anxious to acquit ourselves as 
well as possible. 

All over Germany the Beschenmg or presentation 
of Christmas gifts always takes place on Christmas 
Eve — Weihnachts Abend — usually in the evening. 
To understand something of the intensity to 
which at Christmas the atmosphere can attain, 
one must be at that time in the Fatherland. A 
good six weeks beforehand, those who happen 
to be near the railway line may note the passing 
of luggage trains bearing nothing but small 
pine trees — that is to say comparatively small, for 
many are ten or twelve feet high. They are 
the thinnings of the big pine forests of the Thiir- 
inger-W'ald, and come down daily to Berlin and 
the other large towns to supply the wants of the 
dealers in such trees. Every public square be- 
comes a miniature pine-wood. Even the stringent 
police regulations are relaxed for the time. In 
all the broad streets are dealers in trees, sellers 
of toys, of Pfeffer Kuchen, of filigree ornaments, 
of air-ships, toy flying-machines and other Christ- 
mas luxuries. 
Travellers in the train can see depending by a 
' string from the sill of every window of those huge 
barrack-like flats which surround Berlin, usually 
I hanging upside down, the W eihnachts-Baum, the 
( tree of promise, which has to be kept in as out-of- 
door conditions as possible, or, being cut off at 
the root, it would soon become dangerously dry 
j if it were not occasionally damped with the water- 
j ing-can. It is safe to say that hardly any house 



96 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 



1 



in Germany, whether the inhabitants be young 
or old, rich or poor, is without its tiny tree at 
Christmas-tide. One sees them in lonely signal- 
boxes on the railway, in poverty-stricken cottage | 
windows, in workshops, in barracks, in churches 
and chapels. There is a touching and peculiar 
sentiment towards Christmas inherent in every 
German heart, which makes the very scent of a 
burning pine branch, that aromatic smell which 
pervades the air at this season, recall the old child- 
ish days, the wonder and the glory of Weihnachfs- 
Glanz. 

So that everybody in the Neues Palais, wearing 
the slightly worried look peculiar to the time, 
strains every nerve to add his or her quota to 
the general W eihnachts-stimmung — or "Christmas- 
mood." 

It is in the big Muschel-Saal that the glory and 
brightness concentrate. Here in this wonderful 
hall of shells the row of big Christmas trees is 
arranged — 'One for every child of the Emperor, 
one for His Majesty and the Empress, and another 
for the ladies-in-waiting, nine trees in all, besides 
two for the servants' distribution. In addition 
to this every one must have a private tree. It 
would be a terrible thing to find a single sitting- 
room without its little pine-tree and shining tinsel 
ornaments. 

The Muschel-Saal occupies the centre of the 
Palace. On its walls are every variety of shell, 
arranged in fantastic patterns — roses, stars, and 
spirals of every kind — while the middle pillars are 
decorated with specimens of various beautiful 
stone or marble in a kind of irregular rockwork. 



<^HRISTMAS AT COURT 97 

Here are to be found large lumps of amber from 
the shores of the Baltic Sea (one with a fly 
distinctly visible far below the surface), pieces 
of blue lapis lazuli, green malachite, red jasper 
and ringed onyx, alabaster, porphyry, quartz of 
every shape and colour, irregular pieces all highly 
polished and set in cement on the massive 
square pillars that uphold the roof. They sparkle 
in a thousand colours under the wax lights of the 
candelabra and the twinkling tapers of the trees. 

These last are decorated almost entirely by the 
young princes and their sister. Besides the 
candles they are hung with Konfekt, most delicious 
chocolate rings covered with " hundreds and 
thousands." Sometimes the decorators take slight 
nibbles at broken pieces, and are sternly checked 
for it by the others. Then plenty of silver 
*'lametta" and " angels' -hair," filmy silvery 
threads giving an impression of hoar-frost, are 
added, and a Christbaum-Engel with wide-open 
wings or a large silver star is put at the apex 
of each tree, which is then firmly fixed in a 
large green-painted stand, specially made for its 
reception. 

The real business of Bescherung begins already 
upon the day before Christmas Eve, or even sooner. 
The Empress rushes from one Kinder-hcim to 
another, to hospitals and schools, putting in a few 
minutes here and there, always with the same 
ready smile for every one, the same fresh look of 
interest in the oft-repeated ceremony, the oft- 
sung carol. She never tires of giving pleasure 
to others, and has little time to rest. It is a very 
busy day, too, for the Princess, for all the morning 

7 



98 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

she is busy decorating a small tree for two needy- 
children — little girls who are chosen by the Hof- 
Prediger with the help of a deaconess who visits 
the poorer quarters of the town. These two 
children with their mother or an elder sister are 
invited to come to the Palace in the afternoon, 
where they are given coffee and cake in the little 
kitchen of the Prinzen-W ohnung. Their ages 
are usually between seven and nine, and they are 
often painfully shy, though there are brilliant 
exceptions whose naturalness breaks through the 
artificial barrier of onerous and excessive Manieren 
imposed on them by anxious relations imperfectly 
instructed in such things. 

While they consume their coffee and cake, the 
Princess directs her footman to draw down all 
the blinds of the big salon, so as to shut out the 
two-o'clock winter daylight and create a proper 
background for the twinkling lights on the tree, 
which are all reflected from the mirrors of the 
room. On a table are spread out a complete suit 
of clothing for each child, not excepting boots 
and stockings, a large basket of provisions, con- 
taining among other things some of those famous 
German sausages, Leber-Wurst and Blut-Wurst, 
besides coffee, sugar, Pfeffer-Kuchen and other 
Christmas delicacies. There is always a large 
doll on each side of the table supported by the heap 
of clothing and staring into the middle distance 
with the usual doll-like look of vacuity. 

The Ober-Gouvernante and one or two of the 
ladies of the Empress are always present, and the 
Princess professes to feel very nervous, though 
there is little sign of it in her greeting of the shy 



CHRISTMAS AT COURT 99 

little mites, when the big doors are opened by the 
footmen and they creep in with their mother, 
almost overcome with the beauty and the wonder 
of it all. Hand in hand they stand in front of the 
tree, the light shining on their little pinched faces, 
and together repeat the Wcilmachts-Gcschichte, 
the Bible story of the first Christmas, which every 
well-brought-up German child, rich or poor, learns 
as soon as it can lisp. Sometimes, with much 
nervous twisting of clean pinafores, they even 
sing a carol in a breathless, desperate kind of way. 
Everybody feels relieved when this ordeal is safely 
over and the childish voices with their nasal twang 
have ceased. Then the Princess tells them it was 
very nice, and taking them by the hand leads them 
up to the tree and shows them the shoes and 
stockings and dresses and dolls, while the rest of 
us draw aside and leave them together a little. 
Almost invariably the children are taken into 
the bedroom of the Princess to try on the new 
dresses to see if they lit, and presently emerge to 
gratify our eyes with their beauty. 

After a while they depart, usually carrying the 
dolls and some of the clothes and provisions, but 
leaving the bulk of them, including the tree, to 
be brought next morning to the place where they 
live by the Commissions-W agen of the Palace, which 
is always on the road to or from Potsdam in those 
terribly busy weeks. Different children were, of 
course, invited every year, and this pleasant custom 
continued until the Princess was seventeen years 
of age, when she began to share her mother's 
charities. In her earlier days, the names of the 
children were of the greatest interest, and she was 



100 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

delighted with two who bore the unusual patro- 
nymic of Ballschuh. 

At about eleven o'clock on the morning of 
Christmas Eve takes place the Bescherung for the 
servants of the Princess, including the grooms 
and stablemen. The latter come across the 
Mopke in their neat livery and follow the house- 
maids and footmen, who enter with smiling bows 
and range themselves round the table on which 
stands the tree. The blinds have again been 
drawn, for no Christmas Tree can do itself justice 
in the daylight. The little plates, eggcups and 
Bier-gldser, bought with the pocket money of the 
Princess, each bear the recipient's name written 
by herself. These things have all been personally 
selected from the shops which, until the time 
she was grown up, she was allowed to visit only 
once a year, and the proper allocation of gifts has 
caused her much heart-searching. She utters 
a sigh of relief as the last servant files out, each 
carrying his present with the invariably accom- 
panying packet of Pfeffer-Kuchen. 

On Christmas Eve the Emperor, as is well 
known, has a habit of walking abroad, his pockets, 
or rather those of his accompanying adjutants, 
full of gold and silver coin. These coins he dis- 
tributes in a promiscuous manner to whomsoever . 
he may chance to meet ; it may be to a gardener, I 
or a sentry on duty at the gates, or a little school- 
boy or girl, or even an officer may be the recipient 
of this Christmas dole, which is always highly 
prized by those who chance to receive it. The 
sentry is prevented by the regulations from taking 
the coin (usually a twenty-mark piece) when on 



CHRISTMAS AT COURT 101 

duty, so it is generally placed in the sentry- 
box till guard is relieved. One Christmas the 
Princess was walking with four of her brothers 
down the wide drive of the Neuer Garten, when 
in the distance they saw the Emperor approaching 
accompanied by his adjutants. Knowing the 
errand which had taken His Majesty abroad, 
Prince Fritz laughingly suggested that there 
might be a chance of receiving some Christmas 
money, so under his orders they ranged them- 
selves in military formation beside the road, 
standing at the salute (at least the Princes did — 
the ladies merely kept " eyes front ") as the 
Emperor drew near. He returned the salute, 
but said in a gruff voice as he passed, speaking 
in Enghsh, " No, you won't get anything— all 
labour in vain," and gave an emphatic nod, while 
the would-be recipients giggled at each other and 
felt rather foolish. 

" He might have given us a mark each," com- 
plained the Pnncess. 

It was always notable how many gardeners 
there w-ere out on the paths, sweeping invisible 
leaves away on Christmas Eve ; but His Majesty's 
selection of a route v^^as always unexpected, so 
that there was little to be gained by any attempt 
to guess the probable course of his wanderings. 

The Beschcrung to the servants took place 
about two o'clock in the Schilder-Saal or Hall 
of Shields. Long tables were laid down the 
centre of the room, on wliich were arranged in 
due order everybody's gifts. Two or three large 
Christmas trees were lighted, and in the corner 
stood the piano which was to reinforce our efforts 



102 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

at carol-singing. In poured a crowd of white- 
capped housemaids, green-clad Jagers, footmen, 
and Kammer-diener (butlers). All the ladies were 
assembled in decollete evening dress, and those 
who had undertaken to help in singing carols 
were beginning to tremble, especially when the 
leading soprano whispered that she had a slight 
sore throat and couldn't sing a note. 

Then the Empress, also in evening dress, arrived 
with the Princess and the princes in full uniform, 
including, until his marriage, the Crown Prince ; 
and the choir timidly sung the first carol, which 
always sounded a little thin and chirpy in that 
large room. It was listened to with the greatest 
respect, if not pleasure, and then another was sung 
at the request of the Empress, while everybody 
stood patiently waiting till it was finished. Her 
Majesty then walked round and showed every- 
body their presents, which consisted of dress- 
pieces, counterpanes, curtains, clocks, etc. She 
began with the housekeeper, and as year after 
year the tables were arranged in the same order, 
the whole ceremony, if it could be called ceremony 
where everything was so simple and kindly, was 
soon at an end, and they all trooped away with 
their cutlery, silver, pictures and photographs — 
leaving nothing behind but the bare tables with 
their white cloths and the Christmas trees. 

Then, after a short pause, a general move was 
made to the apartment of the Empress, where 
carols were to be sung for the delectation of His 
Majesty. There was the last almost acrimonious 
dispute as to whether they should be sung 
with or without accompaniment, ending, as was 



CHRISTMAS AT COURT 108 

confidently expected, in favour of the moral 
support afforded by the piano. One lady is 
warned about her E, which is inclined to be a 
little flat, and the question hurriedly discussed 
as to whether somebody who has been singing 
seconds had not better join the trebles weakened 
by incipient colds. Nothing is settled when the 
door from the next room opens and His Majesty 
steps in, bows, and stands in an attitude of atten- 
tion not unmixed with boredom which makes 
everybody's blood run cold. 

The Hoj~Predigef s face wears a look of concen- 
trated anxiety and apprehension as he counts the 
first bar and plunges into the accompaniment. 
The top E is safely passed — not perhaps quite 
exact as to pitch, but not so very bad — the 
adjutants are booming their tenor and bass 
with praiseworthy conscientiousness if little skill, 
and we settle down to verses two and three 
with renewed confidence. The second high E 
is on the down grade, and the third one almost 
painful, but as soon as the last note has died 
away the Princess and Prince Joachim both 
together begin feverishly to recite the Weihnachts- 
Geschichte, which it is customary for every 
Prussian prince and princess to repeat yearly from 
the age of six until Confirmation. 

When they have got half-way through, " Stille 
Nacht " is sung, and then they finish the Christmas 
story to the end, and a third carol is performed ; 
all hoping that it didn't really sound as bad as 
it seemed to do. 

Sometimes His Majesty takes hold of a hymn- 
book and sings with the rest; while, since their 



104 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

marriage, the Crown Prince and Princess are 
accustomed to join in the music, and everyone 
feels that this attempted harmony is " sehr nett" 
if not particularly brilliant. 

Then all file in to dinner at the impossible 
hour of four o'clock. It is given thus early so 
that the numerous guests may still be in time 
for their own private festivities at home. All 
the Emperor's old adjutants and court officials 
are invited, and assemble in the big salons near 
the Jasper Gallery, in which dinner is served at a 
series of small round or oval tables. Monster carp 
are brought round boiled in ale, looking plethoric 
and porpoise-like, and the meal winds up with 
English plum-pudding and mince-pies served with 
flaming brandy sauce. The German gentlemen 
are not at all fond of plum-pudding — they think 
it horrible stuff ; but they like the mince-pies, 
especially the brandy-sauce part. 

As soon as dinner is finished, the Emperor gives a 
signal, the doors into the Muschel-Saal are thrown 
open, and all walk through into the Christmas 
brilliancy. The whole row of lighted trees ranged 
the length of the immense hall shed that clear 
yet soft subdued light of multitudinous wax 
tapers which is more beautiful than any other. 
Electricity has been installed in the Muschel- 
Saal within the last few years, and much of 
the old glamour of the scene has departed — the 
candles burn palely, they have lost some of the 
old warmth and glow, the green of the foliage 
has become faded. 

Round the Saal, tables are arranged as at a 
bazaar, and each lady has one to herself loaded 



CHRISTMAS AT COURT liOS 

with presents. The Emperor sometimes walks 
round and shows his own gift, usually a very 
beautiful fur, where it lies on each person's table; 
but one of the great charms of His Majesty is 
that he has no stereotyped Hne of conduct — if he 
doesn't feel like walking round and making him- 
self agreeable he doesn't do it. He is no slave 
to precedent. So then we find his present on 
our tables by ourselves, and go up and curtsey 
and thank him as opportunity offers. The Em- 
press has always given one principal present, the 
nature of which each recipient has herself chosen ; 
and in addition scatters with liberal hand small 
additional trifles such as workbags, pincushions, 
books, small articles of jewellery. All the adjutants 
and generals receive something handsome and sub- 
stantial : one has a Turkey rug, another a bronze 
bust of the Emperor, a third a pair of silver 
candelabra. But whatever else they get, a large 
plate of nuts, cakes and chocolates accompanies 
each table— and those gentlemen who have to 
return to Berlin early may presently be seen, 
aided by footmen, pouring their nuts and ginger- 
bread into large brown-paper bags, which they 
carr}' away under one arm, for all the world 
like children from a Sunday-school treat. This 
procession of grey-haired generals and officers in 
uniform going off like schoolbo3's with their booty 
seems to afford the Emperor much pleasure. 

The tables of the Empress and Emperor are 
covered with offerings from their relatives in 
England and elsewhere ; but the chief interest is 
in the presents to the Princess. When she reached 
her twelfth year, on her Christmas table appeared 



106 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

the plans of a tiny Bauern-Haus, the gift of 
her father. It was built the following spring in 
the children's garden — a real peasant's wooden 
kitchen, with a real stove and saucepans where 
cooking and washing may be done. It had 
bottle-glass windows and half-doors with bottle- 
glass in the upper portions. There was a larder 
with a buttery-hatch, and it speedily became 
the scene of fearsome cookery experiments in- 
volving lavish outlay in eggs and milk. Here 
was dispensed much hospitality to all classes of 
visitors. 

Another Christmas she received from the 
Emperor a pony-cart, to replace the blue-lined 
Turkish victoria of the Sultan, which was now 
deemed too childish and theatrical in appearance. 
The ponies were promoted to a workmanlike little 
vehicle of light-coloured ash, capable of holding, 
at a pinch, six persons ; and it remained the chief 
medium of transport until after the Emperor's 
visit to Highcliffe, near Bournemouth, when he 
brought back with him a beautiful little New 
Forest pony and " tub," which completely 
eclipsed Ali and Aladdin, who were given away 
to a friend in the country. Perhaps, however, 
the most charming of all the Christmas presents 
which the Emperor gave his daughter was a 
most beautiful little Arab mare called '' Irene." 
She was brought from the stables at the time 
of the Beschenmg and led up the terrace steps 
into the big hall in front of the Muschel-Saal, 
where she stood gazing round in her well-bred 
gentle manner at all the ladies in their evening 
finery and the brilliant uniforms that crowded 



CHRISTMAS AT COURT 107 

round her. She looked at them out of her beauti- 
ful cyos with a fearless, rather disdainful, air, and 
the lights of the many candles shone on the satin 
of her bright strawberry coat — for she was a 
wonderfully-coloured red-roan of an unusual 
tone. She had all the marvellous dignity of 
poise and light springy footsteps of her race, 
and had been highly trained and schooled in the 
" Spanish trot," " passaging," and other riding- 
school attainments, while her action across country 
was, as the Princess said when someone called it 
poetry, " almost a love-song in sixteen verses." 

Unfortunately a year or two after her entrance 
into the stables she was seized with influenza, 
and died in spite of all efforts to save her. 

Towards six o'clock the household, one by one, 
slips away, and leaves the Imperial Family alone 
to spend the rest of the evening in each other's 
society. Every year from Christmas to New 
Year's Day the Muschel-Saal, especially in the 
evenings, is the family rendezvous. As soon as 
it is dark the Christmas trees are lighted and 
tea and supper are taken under the shadow of 
their branches. The Emperor sits at a table 
writing his New Year cards or reading, sometimes 
aloud, sometimes to himself ; everybody is busy 
examining and comparing presents or writing 
letters of thanks. 

Christmas Day itself is passed very quietly, 
the luncheon strictly en famille, with none even 
of the suite present. As many as can be spared 
of the married servants are sent home, to be at 
least a part of the day with their families. Every 
possible consideration is shown, so that not the 



108 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

humblest worker is deprived of a share of leisure 
and opportunity to visit his friends. 

One Christmas the Emperor was in a very 
"anecdotal" mood, and chatted for some time 
to his suite, telling many amusing traits of the 
late Duke of Cambridge — "Uncle George" as he 
called him. 

His Majesty mentioned the well-known fact 
that " Uncle George" was one of the hard-swear- 
ing military type, now — it is said — practically 
extinct, and scattered volleys of oaths abroad 
at the slightest excuse ; but somebody having 
once drawn attention to the great prevalence 
of " language " in the army, he, quite unconscious 
of his own shortcomings, set himself to reform 
the great organization of which at that time he 
was Commander-in-Chief. After a long harangue 
to the assembled officers, plentifully belarded with 
oaths, he concluded by saying : "I'm damned 
if I'll allow this habit of swearing to go on : who 
the devil ever heard me swear ? " 

Once he had planned to show to the German 
Emperor and the King of Greece, who were together 
in England, some pet improvements in drill 
which he had recently introduced, and of which 
he was extremely proud. After they had been 
feasted " right royally " at the officers' mess, 
where plenty of champagne was consumed, the 
Royalties all mounted their horses and pro- 
ceeded to Woolwich Common for the purpose of 
beholding the proposed exercises. But unfortu- 
nately the Duke had forgotten to take into account 
the fact that the day was Bank Holiday, and to 
his disgust and astonishment found his beloved 



CHRISTMAS AT COURT 109 

common black with " trippers" (" fifty thousand 
of 'em," sniggered the Mniperor). The Duke was 
nearly suffocated with rage and disgust, and 
ordered the escort (eighteen mounted Plussars) 
to charge and disperse the people. The impos- 
sibility of this being, however, demonstrated, he 
himself proceeded on his great raw-boned charger 
to harangue the multitude, damning their bodies 
and souls with the greatest impartiality, and 
vainly trying to inspire them with a sense of the 
enormity of choosing this particular day for 
their sportive gambols on the Common. 

When he at last stopped, as the Emperor put 
it " for want of wind," a dead silence fell for a 
moment on the astonished crowd, who were ex- 
pected to melt sadly away ; but suddenly a British 
workman standing near, equal — as British work- 
men generally are — to the occasion, took off his 
cap and waving it in the air cried out " Three 
cheers for 'is R'yl 'Ighness the Dook o' Cam- 
bridge," which three cheers were immediately 
given with the greatest spontaneity and good- 
will, the crowd seeming to enjoy being abused 
by Royalty. But, as the Duke himself afterwards 
sadly observed, " They didn't budge an inch, 
Sire, not an inch. They stopped there all the 
same." So the proposed military evolutions did 
not take place that day and had to be postponed 
to a more convenient season. 



T 



CHAPTER VI 

BERLIN SCHLOSS 

"^HE Prussian Court is awakened on New 
Year's Day by the sound of trumpets 
blaring forth old German chorales as the 
band of the regiment in garrison slowly marches 
round the whole palace playing solemn and stately 
music. 

The previous evening, or somewhere in the 
small hours, in the society of a few intimate 
friends, everybody has partaken of Pfanne-kuchen 
■ — di sort of round dough-nut — and Punch, a 
comparatively harmless German variety of that 
insidious beverage, but still not to be drunk 
lightly and unadvisedly if you would avoid a next 
morning's headache. 

It is customary also to send pictorial posteards 
inscribed with New Year greetings to all acquaint- 
ances in the palace. Footmen are constantly 
arriving from the princes with these small offer- 
ings, which usually have some reference to the 
recipient's peculiar idiosyncrasies. One New 
Year's Eve, having retired earlier than the occa- 
sion warranted, I was awakened from my first 
pleasant dreams by an urgent rapping on the 
outside of the double doors which shut off my 
bedroom from the outside world, and a masculine 

110 



BERLIN SCHLOSS 111 

voice responded to my startled inquiry, saying 
that he had something to dehver to me from 
His Majesty; so hastily rising and huddling on a 
dressing-gown I hastened to receive from a Jager 
an envelope bearing the imperial cipher, which 
contained a picture-postcard of the "' Hohen- 
zollern " inscribed in his own handwriting with 
the New Year wishes of the Emperor. 

Breakfast is a hasty and early function on the 
first day of the year, for at eight o'clock the royal 
special train containing the whole of the Imperial 
Family and the suite, footmen and maids in attend- 
ance, are off to Berlin for the Gratulations-Cour, 
when all the foreign ambassadors in their State 
carriages surmounted by bewigged coachmen and 
footmen in bright red, blue, or yellow uniforms 
drive from their respective Embassies to wish 
His Majesty the usual compliments of the season. 
Christmas is essentially a private family festival, 
but the New Year is ushered in with much public 
ceremony. 

Joyous crowds line Unter den Linden to watch 
the pageant pass ; all the shops are closed and 
an air of hilarious festivity pervades the streets. 
A constant stream of vehicles, many of them of 
the rather shabby horse-droschky type— for few 
residents of the German capital keep their own 
carriages^ — are converging towards the Schloss, all 
containing officers in full uniform, or functionaries 
of various departments bent on the same errand. 

It is a big, square, rather ugly grey pile of 
buildings, the old Berlin Schloss, standing straight 
on to the street on all sides but one, where it 
is skirted by the narrow river Spree. Inside is 



112 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

a rather gloomy, sunless court-yard, paved with 
cobble-stones, in the centre of which is a statue 
of St. George and the Dragon, the latter curling 
uncomfortably round the hoofs of St. George's 
horse, an estimable quadruped which, instead of 
shying, as our ordinary experience of horses would 
lead us to think that it should do, gallantly aids 
its master's spear-thrust by dancing a kind of 
tango on the dragon's vitals. 

Along one side of this court-yard, situated in 
the basement of the Schloss itself, close to and 
on a line with the Hohenzollern Treppe, the recog- 
nized door of arrival for the Empress and her 
children as well as for the ladies and gentlemen of 
the suite, are the barracks for the Schloss Guard. 
While the Court is in residence the guard spends 
its time in perpetual rushes and drummings, for 
no princely personage can arrive or depart without 
that long line of soldiers presenting arms to the 
throbbing drum-beat accompaniment. It sounds 
intermittently from early morning till late at night : 
the constant rapid beat of feet on the cobble- 
stones as the soldiers snatch their arms and fall 
into line, the silence, the military command, and 
then the long continuous rumble, while the royal 
or princely personage of whatever size or age, 
descends from his or her carriage, salutes, and 
disappears into the Schloss up the very plain 
and simple stairway leading to the apartments 
of the Royal Family. All coachmen when driving 
royalty wear a broad hatband embroidered with 
the Prussian Eagle — what is called a Breite-Tresse 
— which can be easily removed if necessary, leaving 
uncovered the plain silver band which denotes the 



BERLIN SCHLOSS 113 

presence of only obscure individuals who are 
spared the more onerous honours. 

A deep archway leads from the large court- 
yard into a smaller, more secluded one, where is 
the entrance to the staircase which the Emperor 
uses. On each side of the large '* Hof " are 
big, heavy, iron gates kept by soldiers, who all 
day long close and open them to the passing 
carriages and other traffic. 

On New. Year's morning the court-yard is per- 
vaded by footmen in gay uniforms with very 
chilly-looking pink silk legs, who pick their way 
gingerly over the round cobble-stones, hastening 
here and there in a very busy preoccupied 
manner. 

Before the Gratulations-Cour takes place, a 
service is held in the chapel of the Schloss, at 
which all the ambassadors, consuls and other 
diplomatic officials are present in uniform. They 
usually spend the time before the entrance of 
the royalties in wandering about and chatting 
with each other, till some one gives a warning 
tap on the marble floor, and the hum sinks into 
silence, broken by the music of the band stationed 
in the gallery above, for the chapel has no organ. 

In the evening a special performance is given 
at the Opera, at which the whole Royal Family 
appears ; and sometimes the Court returns next 
day to the New Palace, but more often remains 
in Berlin for the season, which practically begins 
with the Emperor's birthday on January 27. 

One quaint ceremony connected with New 
Year's Day is the presentation to the Emperor, 
as he sits at table, of sausages and hard-boiled 



114 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

eggs by the " H alloy en,'' a guild of salt-workers 
living in Saxony, possessing peculiar customs, 
privileges and dress. It was the Princess who first 
introduced the ** Halloren sausage " to my notice, 
for on the second or third day of the year, when 
the Court had returned to the New Palace, she 
burst into my room one morning with a very 
small sandwich — German sandwiches have bread 
on only one side of them — made of an extremely 
thin and delicate piece of pink sausage, which 
she presented to me with pride as a portion of 
her " Halloren sausage." I was expected to eat it 
with great solemnity and a due appreciation of 
its marvellous merits, and I conscientiously tried 
to praise it, and declare that there was a " name- 
less something " about the flavour which marked 
it out from all other sausages. I subsequently 
discovered that it was a rare and special and not- 
to-be-repeated favour to share even the smallest 
piece of this wonderful delicacy. Every day this 
sausage appeared at breakfast and the eleven- 
o'clock lunch, but no one was then allowed to 
partake of it, with the exception of the Princess 
herself, and when a few days later we all went to 
Berlin for the rest of the winter the " Halloren 
sausage," now sadly shrunk, was the one piece 
of luggage which the Princess insisted on taking 
in her own charge, carrying it carefully in a 
small black leather bag, and refusing to trust it 
to her footman, who she was convinced would 
leave it in the train or perhaps get it crushed 
or lost. 

Life in Berlin Schloss was very different to that 
in the New Palace. Every morning when lessons 



BERLIN SCHLOSS 115 

began again — the Christmas hoHdays are only 
ten days long in German schools — the Princess had 
to drive away with her lady at twenty minutes 
to eight to Bellevue Schloss, at the other side 
of the Tier-Garten, where her tutor attended 
from eight o'clock till twelve. 

Bellevue is one of those plain, unpretentious 
palaces which were built in the middle of the 
eighteenth century, and has the advantage of a 
fine large garden full of grass and trees. Dotted 
about in the grounds are various small monu- 
ments and memorial stones inscribed with the 
names of dead-and-gone Princes and Princesses 
of the Royal House. Sometimes these stones 
break out into poetry of a sentimental kind, 
always in the French language, often celebrating 
the marvellous virtues of " Helene " or " Fer- 
dinand." Whatever happened, the affections of 
this particular family — ^belonging, I think, to a 
nephew of Frederick the Great — had to find an 
outlet in stonework. Every possible anniversary 
was commemorated, and even the death of a 
favourite Kammer-herr was left recorded for 
the benefit of future generations. The ivy has 
crept over these memorials of a bygone day, 
and in some cases has entirely obliterated the 
lettering. In others the frost and rain are by 
slow degrees accomplishing the same work. It is 
with difficulty that one can trace the crumbling 
letters. 

In the mornings the Ober-Gouvernante took 
" Dienst " in Bellevue, returning at one o'clock with 
the Princess to the Schloss for luncheon, which 
was served in the tiny little dining-room of the 



116 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

Princess's apartments, whose walls were made 
entirely of mirrors bordered by wreaths of painted 
flowers. At half-past two the carriage was ordered 
again to drive to Bellevue, where a few children 
were invited to spend the afternoon. That daily 
drive along the crowded streets was somewhat 
of an ordeal, for all along the route people yvere 
saluting and curtseying and rushing up in the 
enthusiastic German manner to wave pocket-hand- 
kerchiefs. Sometimes, if the Princess happened 
to be in a naughty mood and wished to converse 
undisturbed with her little friends, she would 
nod slowly backwards and forwards like a Chinese 
porcelain figure, regardless if any one was bowing 
to her or not ; but as somebody usually was, it 
did not appear so strange as it otherwise might 
have done. 

In Bellevue garden itself was a kind of earth- 
work called "Die Festung," made by the elder 
Princes with the aid of their uncle Prince Henry, 
and this was the usual scene of the afternoon's 
play. 

In frosty weather part of the Park was flooded, 
and here the time was spent in skating and playing 
on the ice, but when the frost broke up again the 
dirt in the grounds was terrible and the walks 
ankle-deep in sludge. 

The Emperor and Empress invariably came to 
the Park in the afternoons, and it was embarrassing 
to meet them with shoes and dress plastered with 
dirt ; but as the children liked best to play at 
something which was rather dishevelling, such 
as dragging the gardener's cart up on to a hillock 
through thick bushes, or along the wettest and 



BERLIN SCHLOSS 117 

dirtiest paths, it was difficult to preserve that 
immaculate appearance which one would desire 
to have in the presence of royalty. An old 
carpenter, named Fasel, had worked for many 
years in Bellevue Garden, and his shop was a 
constant centre of interest to the Princess, who 
liked to have a chat with him nearly every day. 
He used to make the children bows and arrows 
and tell them long stories of his Wander- J ahre, 
when he was an apprentice and walked from one 
end of Germany to the other, working his way 
along into Austria. 

In January two other festivals broke into 
lessons, before they were well re-started. One was 
the anniversary of the Accession of the Emperor — 
Kronungs-Tag as it is called — ^when there is again 
a series of tedious ceremonies at which the whole 
family is present. These begin with a service in 
chapel at ten o'clock in the morning, at which, 
until a few years ago, all the ladies were obliged 
to appear in Court dress with long trains, those 
of royal birth having theirs carried by pages in 
red. For these functions tickets were issued 
for the gallery high up in the dome of the chapel, 
and given to anyone connected with the Court. It 
was no light task first to climb up the interminable 
steps of the winding-stair which leads to this 
coign of vantage, where no seats are allowed, and 
when there to endure the suffocating crush and 
atmosphere. The humours of the crowd happily 
relieve to a certain extent the tedium of waiting 
— for the lady who has received a ticket through 
the agency of an Ambassador thinks that, however 
late she appears, she has a right to a place in 



118 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

the front row, while the footman's wife, who is 
already there, refuses to recognize social superi- 
ority except in her own case, which allows her 
precedence over a mere waiting-maid. Occa- 
sionally people faint, for the heat and standing 
combined are trying to weak constitutions ; but 
if one can get to the front of the gallery, and is 
able to support the proximity of the band and 
the weight of the people behind who hang 
heavily over one's shoulders, there is a good view 
to be had of the whole scene — which, however, 
since Court dresses were done away with by the 
Emperor's order, has been shorn of much of its 
picturesque stateliness. 

A few days afterwards comes the anniversary of 
His Majesty's birthday, which is kept with great 
zeal and earnestness from early morning until 
night. It begins with congratulations at 9.30 
for the household only. On tables arranged 
round one of the smaller salons are spread out the 
various gifts received from family and friends. In 
her childish days the Princess's present was always 
a source of anxiety. Sometimes it took the form 
of a blotting-book, the cover worked or painted 
by herself, or a photograph frame, or perhaps a 
sketch of her own, something costing little except- 
ing the expenditure of time and patience. The 
Emperor was always very pleased with his 
daughter's gift — he valued it more than the silver 
statuettes, the oil-paintings, jewelled cigarette- 
cases and costly things lavished on him by the 
other members of his family. 

On the evening of the birthday there is the 
usual performance at the Opera, where the audience 



BERLIN SCHLOSS 119 

is composed only of those officially invited, and the 
house is garlanded and scented. On one birthday, 
however, for some reason an evening concert in 
the Schloss itself took the place of the Opera. It 
was held in the beautiful Weisser Saal, and I 
listened to it from one of the little Loge, or boxes, 
of which there are two set into the wall. This 
occasion was especially memorable on account 
of two rather startling incidents which happened 
during the progress of the concert. Several 
soloists sang, and there was a large band of string 
and wind instruments. During the playing of 
an orchestral piece, a door opened in the empty 
musicians' gallery, which ran across the Saal at 
right angles to the box where I was sitting, and 
I was startled to see a man enter on hands and 
knees and creep slowly and stealthily along the 
floor across to the opposite side. Following 
him a few paces behind, in the same stealthy 
manner, came a fat, unwieldy woman. They 
were distinctly visible through the white marble 
balustrades as they moved slowly along, the 
woman getting into constant difficulties with her 
skirt, which much impeded her progress. Could 
this perhaps be the preliminary to an Anarchist 
bomb ? was the first thought which crossed my 
mind. The rotundity of the woman was re- 
assuring. She did not look to be of the stuff of 
which conspirators are made, but nevertheless 
her movements were decidedly suspicious. I 
touched the hand of the lady with me, who had 
long been attached to the Court. She had not 
yet seen the two grovellers on the empty gallery 
floor. I nodded in their direction. She started 



120 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

when she caught sight of them, and an angry 
flush of indignation overspread her face. She 
whispered to me that they were the wife and son 
of a Kastellan, one of the officials who have certain 
portions of the Schloss under their charge. They 
had chosen this extraordinary manner of seeing 
and hearing something of the festivities — very 
foohshly, as it proved, for the Emperor himself 
perceived them and sent to make inquiries, with 
the result that the unfortunate husband and 
father of the guilty pair as nearly as possible lost 
his comfortable position as Kastellan, while the 
son — a young man old enough to know better — 
was severely punished, and the wife fell into 
disgrace and was for a long time looked at askance 
by her colleagues in the castle. 

At the same concert, one of the chorus-singers 
went out of his mind. At all State concerts there 
is a long interval in the middle, when the Emperor 
and Empress move round among the invited 
guests, chatting to each in turn. Not till His 
Majesty commands is the signal given by a gentle 
roll on the drum for the concert to recommence. 
On this occasion, after a very short interval 
indeed, the drum was heard and everybody hurried 
back in some surprise to the red velvet chairs, 
from which they had risen to wander about and 
talk. 

The Emperor knew that *' some one had blun- 
dered," as he had given no order to continue ; 
but perhaps not unwilling to have the proceedings 
curtailed, he let the mistake pass, and shortly 
afterwards returned to his place beside the Em- 
press. But the person who had given the signal 



BERLIN SCHLOSS 121 

was a singer of the chorus, who for some time 
had been giving his friends cause for uneasiness. 
After drumming energetically for several minutes 
he fled from the Schloss, pursued by one of the 
pink-stockinged footmen as far as the court-yard 
gates, where the unfortunate man escaped in the 
darkness into the crowd of the street. 

The birthday of the Empress, which occurs in 
November, was always celebrated at the New 
Palace. The most striking among her presents 
were the dozen hats given by His Majesty, in- 
variably chosen by himself. They were arranged 
on stands on the billiard-table of the room where 
the " birthday-table" was erected — a table beau- 
tifully enwreathed and garlanded by autumn 
leaves, intermixed with fruits, bunches of tiny 
red crab-apples, clusters of green and black 
grapes, small melons and gourds. It is a perilous 
business for any man to set out to buy a dozen 
hats for his wife without consulting her tastes 
and wishes on the subject, but the German 
Emperor is not a man to recoil from even such 
an enterprise. Though the hats were always very 
beautiful, and obviously the most expensive of 
their kind, they always raised, I found, certain 
doubts and queries in the mind of the feminine 
observer. 

Does any woman in the world, be she ever so 
much an Empress, really desire to have hats 
thrust on her by the dozen without any 
" trying on " or any of that delicious hovering 
between two decisions which makes hat-buying so 
thrillingly charming — above all, without reference 
to the costume with which the head-gear must 



122 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

be worn, whereof it should be the fitting corollary 
and completion ? 

The ordinary masculine mind is not sufficiently 
subtle to number among its greatest achievements 
the purchase of successful feminine millinery; 
even an Emperor ought to realize the limits 
of his sphere of activity. But William never 
did. Every year, year after year, there were 
the dozen hats, all much of the same type, all 
be-feathered, be-ribboned, be-decked with tulle 
or chiffon or embroidery, whichever happened 
to be uppermost in the scheme of fashion. The 
Emperor enjoyed being complimented on his 
taste. He liked to feel that great minds can stoop 
successfully to occupy themselves with trifles. He 
was delighted to see his wife looking well in one 
of his gifts. The hats always seemed to be 
holding the birthday reception; they filled the 
foreground to the exclusion of the other marvellous 
things, diamond and pearl ornaments, jewels of 
every description, which His Majesty also showered 
on the Empress with lavish hand. 

On the evening of Her Majesty's birthday a 
performance was usually given in the pretty 
little Rococo Theatre of the Palace, built by 
Frederick the Great. Though the piece was 
necessarily simple, owing to the absence of up- 
to-date stage-machinery and accommodation for 
the actors, yet the little theatre was the scene of 
many brilliant and pleasant gatherings. 

On one occasion the King and Queen of Norway 
were present at a performance there, soon after 
their accession. They stayed some days at the 
New Palace, of course with their little son Olaf, 




THE EMPEROR AND EMPRESS, THEIR DAUGHTER AND THE THREE 
ELDER SONS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 



BERLIN SCHLOSS 123 

a most amusing, quaint, old-fashioned little child, 
who charmed everybody, especially the Emperor, 
with whom he chatted in a confidential, fearless 
manner, treating His Majesty as a friend and 
companion, and inviting him to help in building 
his house of bricks. The small boy came once or 
twice with the Princess into her sitting-room, 
where he overwhelmed her with an avalanche 
of questions regarding her canary, pursuing his 
investigations into the remotest details of its life 
and ancestry, and asking questions which no one 
could reasonably be expected to answer. 

After the Emperor's birthday the Season is 
in full swing. There are four State Balls and 
various ''Cours" and "Levees" ; but the Balls 
are the chief events of the season. With that 
thoroughness which distinguishes all he does, the 
Emperor does not permit any dancing at his 
Court which fails to come up to a certain standard 
of excellence. Every young debutante, every 
young officer anxious to dance before royalty, 
must first satisfy the fastidious judgment of the 
Court Dancing-Mistress, who holds several Tanz- 
Proben or trial dances in the Weisser Saal. A 
few years ago the Court Dancing-Mistress, Frau 
Wolden, now dead, was only less of a personality 
than His Majesty. Once indeed, in an agitated 
and forgetful moment, it is whispered that she 
sank on to the throne itself. She upheld with a 
stern hand the dignity of the Court, and her 
scathing remarks on the attitudes and steps of 
certain young provincials of both sexes who 
thought to introduce fashionable irregularities 
into the lancers, at once made them realize their 



124 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

error. What her real age was cannot with cer- 
tainty be told. She owned with pride to seventy, 
and would lift her silk skirts and show her wonder- 
fully fine ankles in a graceful tip-toe turn as if in 
derision of awkward flat-footed youth. To the 
day of her death she retained all her marvellous 
grace of movement. Twice a week she came 
to the Castle to give dancing lessons to Prince 
Joachim and the Princess. Other little boys and 
girls of the same age were invited to complete 
the class, and were drilled by the old lady in the 
intricacies of the minuet and gavotte, which 
quaint old-world dances are invariably danced 
at the Berlin Court Balls, and are from a specta- 
cular point of view the most beautiful of any. 

Excepting in severe winters it is rare that any 
sleighing is possible in Berlin, but once there 
came a short frost accompanied by a good deal 
of snow, and immediately the aspect of the streets 
changed. All the cabs were replaced by wooden 
sleighs ; the rather depressed-looking cabmen (it 
was before automobiles had taken possession of 
Berlin) became cheerful and picturesque in fur 
caps and sheepskin coats. Two light sleighs, each 
drawn by a couple of horses, appeared every 
afternoon in the court-yard of the Schloss with 
a musical clash and tingle of bells, and away the 
Princess would drive over the hard-trampled snow 
of the streets till the Griinewald, the beautiful 
forest skirting Berlin, was reached. 

To keep the snow thrown up by the hoofs of 
the horses from falling into the sleigh, white snow- 
cloths with red borders were stretched from their 
collars and tied to each corner of the splash- 



BERLIN SCHLOSS 125 

board. These filled out to the wind like sails, 
giving the impression that the sleigh was being 
borne along by them. In the Griinewald were 
a good many other sleighs gliding along with 
a merry jangle. Behind, on a tiny seat, his 
feet on the runners, sat the Princess's footman 
enveloped in a big coat with triple cape and 
Ohren-Klappen (ear-lappets) over his ears. Some- 
times sleighs are driven from the back, or more 
commonly by a person inside, but these had a seat 
in front for the driver. It is not easy to steer 
a horse-sleigh round a corner, as it has a tendency 
to skid off sideways. At the New Palace, when a 
hard frost came, it was in later years no unusual 
thing to see the Crown Prince and Princess driving 
in a sleigh, followed by a string of young officers 
and their wives on ordinary children's toboggans, 
several drawn by one horse. Occasionally one 
of the fair sleighers, responsive to an unexpected 
movement of the horse, would drop off behind, 
and some of the rest of the party had to come 
back and replace her. There could not have 
been much enjoyment in travelling in that way, 
unprotected from the cold, though doubtless the 
occasional bump on to the ground helped to 
restore the circulation. 

But the occasions for sleighing in the neigh- 
bourhood of Berlin are very rare indeed, as there 
is seldom quite enough depth of snow, so that 
opportunities had to be snatched or they might 
be gone in another hour or two. The Princess 
always grasped the earliest possible opportunity 
when sleighing was practicable, and enjoyed some 
delightful drives through the silent frozen soli- 



126 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

tudes beside the marshes of the Havel, whose 
brown sedges broke the whiteness of the shore, 
down by Werder (the Cherry-island, where in 
spring the blossom of cherry-trees recalls the past 
winter), all along the ice-bound blue-grey river 
streaked with white where the blasts from the 
north blew the snow into long ripples, back through 
the unbroken purity of the lovely Wild-park with 
its troops of dun-brown deer moving silently under 
the snow-laden branches, waiting for the forester to 
bring their daily ration of hay and chestnuts. 

But for the most part the snow comes and 
goes quickly, as in England, and in Berlin it is 
rapidly cleared from the streets and tipped into 
the river. Even in Belle Vue it quickly becomes 
black and sullied, for the railway runs through 
one corner of the park and the smoke of the trains 
plentifully besprinkles all the shrubs and bushes 
with smuts. 

Belle Vue was sometimes the scene of the great 
hunt for Easter eggs, in which His Majesty himself 
used to take a very active part. 

About twenty children were invited to partake 
in this festivity, and the preparations for Easter 
in the way of gifts seemed only a very little less 
than those at Christmas. The Empress usually 
gave every person in her service a piece of Berlin 
porcelain — beautiful hand-painted coffee- or tea- 
cups, dessert-plates, vases or candlesticks. In 
addition to these things, flowers arranged to 
look like eggs were always sent to the suite by 
Her Majesty, and the children invited to the Eier- 
Suchen, as it was called, each received a huge 
cardboard egg filled with toys, postcards, trinkets 



BERLIN SCHLOSS 127 

and bonbons, besides a variety of chocolate eggs 
wrapped in bright-coloured papers. 

All the eggs had to be looked for in various 
hiding-places, and each child was provided with a 
basket to hold what he or she found. If the 
weather promised to keep fine, the eggs were 
hidden in the garden among the bushes, but if it 
appeared likely to be wet, then the hunt took 
place in the Schloss itself. Sometimes the Em- 
peror insisted on hiding all the eggs, as he con- 
sidered that he knew the best places for them ; 
but once he and his adjutants made an unfortu- 
nate choice of the porcelain stoves as appropriate 
nesting-places, with the result that the chocolate 
eggs melted away under the influence of the 
heat and betrayed their presence by long brown 
stalactites dripping to the floor below. 

At one of these '* egg-parties "^which were apt 
to be a little stiff at first, as the children were 
overawed, and probably over-admonished as to 
their behaviour before coming — the Emperor 
was much amused by a small boy of seven, the 
little Prince of Saxe-Altenburg, whose father 
has now succeeded to the principality. The 
little fellow arrived at Belle Vue clad in a most 
immaculate white sailor-suit and white linen cap, 
but in his earnest pursuit of eggs he thrust him- 
self into the heart of the thickest and sootiest 
bushes, conscientiously penetrated the most 
tangled thorny shrubs, explored the coke- cellar 
of the greenhouse, and emerged at last with his 
face covered with black smears and the dazzling 
whiteness of his garments seriously diminished. 
When all the children were reassembled with their 



128 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

eggs, this small Prince, regardless of the smuts 
on his hands and nose, and perhaps a little weary 
of the stiff atmosphere which prevailed in the 
presence of Their Majesties, with a smile, produced 
from his pocket a pair of motor-goggles, which 
he assumed with an aspect of the greatest joy, 
and after sweeping the assembled girls and boys 
with a sunshiny glance which left a ripple of 
laughter behind, turned his smiling face to the 
Emperor and grinned confidingly. He effectually 
broke the ice, and the stiffness vanished at once. 
The children lapsed into naturalness, forgot that 
they were wearing their best frocks, and followed 
the still *' motor-goggled" Prince in a wild chase 
round the bushes and flower-beds. It was he who 
really made the party a social success. All the 
children went home a little smudgy, but all felt 
that they had had an unusually good time. 



CHAPTER VII 

DONAU-ESCHINGEN AND METZ 

THE time came very soon when Prince 
Joachim was sent away, the victim of 
acute home-sickness, to join his brothers in 
Ploen ; and it was then resolved that the Princess, 
who felt his absence keenly, should be also provided 
with the necessary stimulus and society of children 
of her own age. 

From the Augusta-Stift, an aristocratic ladies' 
school in Potsdam in which the Empress was much 
interested, three suitable young maidens of good 
family were chosen. 

Every morning they were fetched at half-past 
seven by a royal carriage and brought to the New 
Palace, where they shared the lessons and games 
of the Princess until half-past twelve, when they 
were reconducted to their Stift. It was fondly 
hoped by the ladies of the Court that this arrange- 
ment would put a stop to the constant inter- 
ruption of lessons — a hope which was scarcely 
realized, for it made not the slightest difference. 

Girls in high-class German schools lead a very 
different life to those in similar institutions in 
England. They must all wear uniform, ugly for 
choice ; they must have their hair plaited in the 
tightest, most uncompromising of plaits, which is 
not allowed to hang down, but is pinned by multi- 

9 129 



130 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

tudinous hairpins into a hard knob. Their whole 
existence is absorbed in the acquisition of know- 
ledge, and the exercise they take is a matter not of 
pleasure but of health. If they do anything naughty, 
or are untidy, they wear ribbon rosettes whose 
colours show nicely-graduated degrees of infamy, 
and they must weep bitterly when they don't 
know their lessons, and ask forgiveness for a 
failure to indicate the exact position of Kam- 
schatka. They are usually nice, happy, pleasant- 
mannered girls, expert at making Knixes, those 
quaint little German curtsies which seem to carry 
one back into Jane Austen's books. They kiss 
the hands of their elders, and as soon as they are 
confirmiert and leave school, blossom out into very 
fashionably-dressed, handsome young women, with 
hair done in the latest fashion, and a decided 
penchant for young lieutenants. Their highest 
ambition is to be verlobt as soon as possible, and 
they never turn their thoughts again in the direc- 
tion of Kamschatka or any other part of the 
globe existing beyond their immediate sphere 
of observation. They make excellently self-sacri- 
ficing wives and mothers, and help to preserve 
in their husbands that attitude of infallibility 
which is the peculiar prerogative of German 
mankind. They invariably converse fairly well 
in English and French, and are able to quote 
Goethe, Schiller and Shakespeare in a manner 
which, if a little mechanical, still gives an agree- 
able impression of culture and is some relief from 
the domestic pursuits which, after marriage, they 
fulfil with praiseworthy ardour. They are as 
opposed to the self-possessed, slangy, sporting 



DONAU-ESCHINGEN AND MET2 131 

English schoolgirl with her multifarious ambitions 
as can well be imagined. They never desire to go 
on the stage, never want a vote, and are perfectly 
content with the limited prospect which life offers 
to their sex. 

So in their ill-fitting black frocks, in hard, 
round, black straw sailor hats, with their luxuriant 
hair strained brutally off their foreheads into the 
tightest, hardest of coils, every morning came 
three little girls to share the studies and re- 
creations of the Princess. There had been 
some heart-burning among the parents of the 
young ladies of the Stift, as each one considered 
that her child had peculiar qualifications as a 
possible companion to royalty ; but the final 
decision lay in the hands of the head-mistress and 
the tutor of the Princess, and the choice ultimately 
made was undoubtedly a wise one, though some- 
times the more unregenerate officers of His 
Majesty's suite ventured the opinion that the girls 
in question were " zu gut erzogen" — too well 
brought up — from which it may be gathered that 
they desired to see a little more natural, healthy 
naughtiness exhibited. It is, however, unreason- 
able to expect a child, even if endowed with gifts 
in this direction, not to put a good many curbs on 
her inclination when she is chosen to share the 
comparatively pleasant life at Court in exchange 
for that of the Stift ; and as they were expressly 
encouraged to assert their own rights and not 
to let the Princess always win at the games they 
played — a deplorable tendency which had its root 
as much in the Princess's superiority at games as 
in the ill-advised instructions of foolish parents— 



132 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

they soon discovered, as children will, a demo- 
cratic level of existence which was invaluable as 
an educational factor. Each child, including the 
Princess, was called by her Christian name, and 
it was a matter for congratulation when one of 
the " Stifts-Kinder ," as they were called, was found 
to have an immense superiority over the Princess 
in the matter of evolutions on the parallel bars. 
This quartette of young people worked and played 
together amicably for some years — until, in fact, 
the time approached for the confirmation of the 
Princess, that great event in the life of a German 
girl which seems to make a sharp, decided finish to 
her childhood and flings her full-fledged into a new 
existence. 

When the Court was staying in Berlin, the 
Stifts-Kinder came under a lady's escort by train 
every morning from Potsdam to Berlin, where 
they were driven straight to Belle Vue. They 
had four little desks side by side in one of the big 
empty salons there, and their cheerful faces and 
gay shrieks of laughter as they jumped over the 
flower-beds in the intervals of lessons, or in wet 
weather chased each other through the stately 
rooms with their decorous suites of brocaded 
furniture, added a pleasant element of youth 
and freshness to the old palace. 

The Princess told many interesting things about 
Belle Vue. Among other things, when I was 
admiring the blue satin curtains in one room and 
remarking on their newness, she said, " Yes, of 
course ; that was because of the Shah of Persia." 

" Why ? " I inquired, wondering what the 
Shah had to do with curtains in Belle Vue. 



DONAU-ESCHINGEN AND METZ 133 

*' Oh, don't you know ? He and his suite 
stayed here once, and they used to kill sheep in 
this room, and wiped their hands on the blue 
satin curtains ; and they had to be replaced, of 
course ! " 

She said further that the '' old Shah," the one 
who threw chicken-bones and asparagus- ends over 
his shoulder to the servants standing behind, 
tried to imitate European manners and eat with 
a fork instead of his fingers, but being unaccus- 
tomed to the implement, compromised on Persian 
and European methods by picking up the meat 
with his fingers, sticking it on the fork, and thus 
conveying it to his mouth. 

''When Great-Grandmamma Augusta once of- 
fered him a dish of strawberries, instead of taking 
a few on to his plate, he just ate them from the 
dish while she held it. Fancy ! Great-Grand- 
mamma Augusta — who was so particular ! Every- 
body nearly had a fit ! " 

An intense interest in human nature was one 
of the traits which the Princess shared with her 
father, the Emperor. She liked, if possible, to 
merge herself in the crowd, to watch people 
going about their daily affairs, to see young people 
making love, old people cooking or reading the 
papers. She had a healthy, vital curiosity ; knew 
all about the brothers of the Stifts-Kinder , and to 
whom they were, or were likely to be, engaged. One 
particular friend among the boarders at the Stift 
— not one of those who came daily, but another 
who was frequently invited to the Palace, a very 
nice American girl called Yvette Borup — had a 
brother who accompanied Peary on his expedition 



134 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

to the North Pole. After coming safely through 
all the dangers and hardships of the Polar ex- 
pedition, this brother a year or two later was 
unfortunately drowned in America while boating ; 
but at the time of which I write he was absent 
with Peary, and there were few days when the 
Princess did not wonder " where Yvette's brother 
had got to now." 

In the daily afternoon walks in the neighbour- 
hood of Potsdam, after Prince Joachim had gone 
to Ploen and there was consequently no governor 
or tutor to accompany the Princess and her 
lady, a private detective was detailed to dog 
her footsteps, for there were many undesirable 
characters about and Her Majesty insisted that 
we should have some kind of escort. 

These men deserved the greatest sympathy, 
for the Princess found it most irksome to be 
followed, and would take the greatest pains to 
" throw them off the scent." When they began 
to realize their obnoxiousness to this tempestuous 
daughter of the Hohenzollerns it was amusing to 
see them unobtrusively materialize from behind 
a tree after she had passed by, skulking from 
bush to bush, withdrawing into the shadows of 
the houses, or pretending to be mere harmless 
passers-by absorbed in the study of shop-windows. 

The Princess, whose sharp eye instantly detected 
their manoeuvres, once observed : " If we had 
not known they were detectives, we might have 
thought them murderers lying in wait." 

Men new to their duties would begin by show- 
ing too much zeal, and invariably found that all 
their instructions from head-quarters, whatever 



DONAU-ESCHINGEN AND METZ 135 

they might be, were immediately negatived and 
rendered of no effect, for if they approached 
within not merely speaking, but shouting dis- 
tance, they were treated with withering scorn, 
and the Princess would fly through the bushes 
on rapid, indignant feet, while the unfortunate 
man puffed gallantly but hopelessly in the rear. 

Finally the footman was told to instruct the 
detectives as to the probable direction of her 
walks, so that they could make occasional cross- 
country cuts ; and they quickly learned the neces- 
sity of " taking cover " and becoming merged in 
the surrounding landscape as soon as the keen- 
eyed Princess appeared in sight. They were not 
only absolved but strictly prohibited from bowing 
or saluting, and were urged to be " unmannerly 
rather than troublesome " ; and they soon learned 
to carry out their duties so unobtrusively that 
when, as often happened, they were requisitioned 
for the service of the Emperor, the suite remarked 
on the excellent training and wonderful tact of 
the Geheim-Polizisten, quite unaware how much 
of their education had been due to a young 
"Backfisch" in a blue serge suit. 

Royalties, especially German Royalties, spend a 
large portion of their existence in travelling ; and 
it may here be noted how much the advent of the 
automobile has tended to simplify life at court, 
and to abolish those manifold small ceremonies, 
red carpets and constantly-bowing officials, which 
were formerly attendant on the shortest royal 
journeys. It has relieved the royalties them- 
selves, as well as the functionaries of the Court, of 
an infinite multitude of tedious, tiresome, small 



136 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

formalities and duties, and the motor-car is now 
invariably used excepting for very long journeys. 

Donau-Eschingen is the name of the residence 
of Prince Max Egon, Fiirst zu Fiirstenburg, with 
whom His Majesty stays every year for a few 
days to shoot capercailzie, which abound in the 
woods of the region bordering on the Schwarz- 
wald. On one occasion the Empress and her 
daughter accompanied the Emperor, who had just 
returned from Norway. 

The train of the Empress left Berlin at eleven 
o'clock on Friday night, and before that, the Prin- 
cess had retired to bed, though it is not easy 
to sleep in a station among the hootings and 
trumpetings that accompany the comings and 
goings of trains. All through the night the 
train travelled slowly, with many jerks and stops, 
for it was not due to arrive until ten o'clock next 
morning at the place where the Emperor would 
join it. The route lay through the most beautiful 
forest scenery of the Thiiringer-Wald. 

At nine o'clock we breakfasted in the train 
with the Empress, and shortly afterwards stopped 
at a station surrounded by an enormous crowd. 
There were the usual tiers of faces pressed to the 
railings row above row, No ceremony was ob- 
served on this occasion. The Emperor could be 
seen in his green hunting-uniform crossing the 
line with his adjutants, and the Empress and the 
Princess got down on to the platform to welcome 
him. He looked very brown and well from his 
long sea-voyage, and was obviously in very good 
spirits. After a few minutes the train started 
again, no luggage having been transferred, as the 



DONAU-ESCHINGEN AND METZ 137 

train that brought His Majesty had been coupled 
on to that of the Empress. 

At one o'clock we all dined together in the 
restaurant car, where the ladies wore hats and 
simple walking- dresses, without jackets. A long 
table ran down the centre of the saloon, and one 
of the gentlemen, whose duty it was, showed us 
our places. The Emperor and Empress sat facing 
each other at the middle of each side. 

There was very little room for the footmen to 
pass round behind the chairs, especially for those 
unfortunate men who, in the course of their 
service at court, had acquired a certain rotundity 
of figure ; and as the train jerked and swayed 
along it was all that some of them could do to 
avoid being flung, soup and all, over the people 
they were serving. The consomme was handed 
round in little bowls with curved-in rims, but at 
the best it was a very elusive liquid, and most 
of it evaded pursuit and was taken back to the 
kitchen. 

After the soup came mutton cutlets with puree 
of potatoes, and this dish the Emperor ordered 
to be set in front of him, for he obviously objected 
to the possibility of having an avalanche of chops 
on his head. At German meals every dish, even 
a joint, is always offered to the guests to help 
themselves ; there is no carving at the sideboard. 
The meat is previously cut up in the kitchen, 
and then the slices laid together again to look as 
though the joint were whole, so that only a fork is 
needed to serve oneself ; but it always impressed 
me, especially after once seeing a servant, owing 
to a sudden paroxysm of the train, fling a whole 



138 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

leg of mutton over a lady's shoulder into her lap, 
as a custom which places too much responsibility 
on the waiter. So the gentlemen and the Empress 
held the plates while the Emperor slapped chops 
into them as fast as possible, so that they had, 
as he observed, " no time to grow cold,'* and the 
dish was soon empty. 

He was laughing and chatting all the time, 
evidently in most exuberant spirits, and intro- 
duced one gentleman to me, who had newly 
arrived at court, giving a short biography of hi^ 
life — ^as for instance " He's been to America and 
got scalped there by Indians." The gentleman 
in question, raising his hat, ran his hand over 
his smooth and hairless cranium as though in 
corroboration of His Majesty's statement. 

'* Speaks wonderful English," went on the 
Emperor — " wonderful English, all learnt in 
America. You can talk to him as much as you 
like." 

As my energies were at that time concentrated 
on keeping my knife and fork out of my features, 
I did not talk very much to the gentleman from 
America, though I afterwards found that he did 
speak very good English indeed. 

The train began slowly to ascend the beautiful 
mountains of the Black Forest. It was the month 
of May, and against the dark background of pine- 
forest ran the vivid green of the larches breaking 
into leaf. Little streams and waterfalls con- 
tinually came into view as we rose higher and 
higher, and often a sudden shower fell and a 
rainbow spanned the valley below us. The train 
passed through more than thirty tunnels. 



H 



DONAU-ESCHINGEN AND METZ 139 

When luncheon was finished we still stayed 
some time at the table, and one of the generals in 
the Emperor's suite who had recently begun to 
study the English language took the opportunity 
to practise what he knew of it upon me. He 
was a very delightful, handsome old gentleman, 
and had fought in the Franco-Prussian War. He 
told me all the books he was reading in English, 
and quoted sentimentally, apropos of nothing, 
" Let me Dream again." I wondered where he 
had learned that Early- Victorian melody. 

" That is all Lowther Castle," laughed the 
Emperor : " started them all learning English ; 
they've been taking lessons ever since." 

When they accompanied the Emperor to stay 
with Lord Lonsdale, all the German gentlemen 
found themselves so dreadfully " out of it " for 
want of English, that as soon as they returned 
to their native land they one and all, regardless 
of age or possible ridicule, immediately sought 
out a teacher and studied hard, with, at least in 
the case of the old general, most satisfactory 
results, for he was able to talk quite fluently 
with me. I recommended him to read " The 
Visits of Elizabeth," which had just appeared 
in Tauchnitz, and the Emperor remarked that 
he had read it, and was sure it was all true, 
especially the part about France. He was very 
kind in pointing out pretty bits of scenery, and 
kept the table in a perpetual roar with his jokes, 
which he always laughed at most heartily himself. 

When the train arrived at Donau-Eschingen 
a large party, composed of the Prince and Prin- 
cess Fiirstenburg with their eldest daughter, a 



140 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

girl about the same age as the Princess, and sundry 
head-foresters, Land-Rats, and other officials in 
black coats and white ties, was on the platform 
to receive the Emperor and Empress. 

There were five children at the Schloss, two girls 
and three boys, and the Princess was delighted to 
have so many children to talk and play with. 
She was always interested in new people, and 
never shy. She took all her meals with them and 
their governess and tutor, and played furious games 
of hide-and-seek all over the garden. Nor did she 
neglect to visit the stables, and tried to ride a 
donkey bare-backed without a bridle — a very diffi- 
cult feat, as she found to her cost, for being uplifted 
with pride at being able to stick on for a few minutes, 
she rode into the front of the Schloss, where the 
donkey tipped her ignominiously on to the gravel 
before the assembled ladies and gentlemen and 
then raced back to the stables. Beyond a few 
scratches she was not much hurt. 

In the district of Baden, where Donau-Eschingen 
is situated, and in the various valleys of the 
Black Forest, the peasant costumes are extremely 
quaint and varied, each valley being distin- 
guished by its own particular Tracht. At the 
invitation of the Prince of Fiirstenburg all the 
inhabitants of the surrounding district came to 
greet the Emperor and Empress. It was a most 
beautiful and picturesque sight, these masses of 
people in their many-coloured head-dresses and 
wonderfully embroidered bodices. Some of them 
had huge erections made of brilliantly coloured 
beads on their heads, in shape like a wedding 
cake, and often weighing close on twenty pounds ; 



DONAU-ESCHINGEN AND METZ 141 

others wore straw hats covered with bright red 
or black silk pompons ; while another character- 
istic head-dress was a sort of pointed, stiff black 
silk cap, from which hung long streamers of 
black ribbon. They had wonderfully embroidered 
bodices worked in silver lace, and short pleated 
skirts of a portentous width all round. 

The Emperor and Empress and all the guests 
stood on the balcony after they returned from 
church — it was of course Sunday when the fete 
took place — and watched the procession go by. 
The inhabitants of each valley walked together 
and carried a flag bearing the name of their par- 
ticular district. The cheerful sunburnt peasants 
moved slowly through the beautiful gardens, 
men and women marching past in their quaint 
picturesque dress, which, though so crude in 
colour, yet blended together in a riot of delightful 
beauty, threading in and out in a long-drawn-out 
line of marvellous effect. The sun glinted from 
the masses of opalescent beads carried on the 
heads of three or four hundred sturdy maidens, 
or lit up the wide stretch of red pompons which 
cut across the procession like a field of poppies, 
then wandered to the bright red waistcoats worn 
by the men, shone on the green silk aprons or 
the broad cerise ribbons and the wonderfully 
starched and plaited white cambric sleeves. 

Three of the women, each wearing a different 
costume, came up to the balcony and presented 
an address to the Empress, who talked with them 
in her usual kindly manner. The peasants were 
three women of great dignity and a certain 
nobility of manner, self-possessed and apparently 



142 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

not in the least intimidated. Probably in ordinary 
costume they might have created a different 
impression, and would have appeared commonplace 
and ordinary in type and feature ; but the marvel 
of these peasant dresses is that the plain woman 
looks in them almost as well as the handsomest ; 
they bestow a piquancy, an alluring attractive- 
ness on the least prepossessing of womankind. 
In detail they exploit the bizarre, the unexpected, 
often the ludicrous, yet subtly blend into a com- 
plete and satisfactory whole, as incomprehensible 
as it is fascinating. 

For the rest of the day the Schloss garden was 
crowded with groups of peasants, some of them 
tiny boys and girls, all anxious to see the Kaiserin, 
and above all "die kleine Prinzessin/' who has 
always kept a very special place in the hearts of 
the German people. 

A curious rumour, one of those inexplicable 
tales which, though totally devoid of foundation, 
are yet firmly accepted and become one more of 
those popular errors so tenaciously held, a whis- 
pered story with regard to the Princess, with 
which she herself is much amused, has always 
been current in Germany — even in the remotest 
corners of the Empire — to the effect that she is 
deaf and dumb. How this extraordinary idea 
arose can never be known, for at every stage of 
her existence the Princess has lagged noways 
behind other children in volubility of expression 
and quickness of hearing. 

Once at the sea-side a faithful forester, a true 
and loyal German subject, approached the Court 
physician, who was in attendance on the royal 



DONAU-ESCHINGEN AND METZ 143 

children, paddling in the " briny " a short distance 
away, and expressed his unmitigated sorrow at 
the misfortune suffered by the Imperial Family, 
in that their only daughter should be so deeply 
afflicted. 

At the moment one of those healthy spells of 
zanking happened to take place between the 
Princess and her brother. 

" Do you hear that ? " said the genial doctor. 
'* Can you hear your deaf-and-dumb Princess 
talking ? " She was indeed talking in tones that 
carried to quite a distance. " Go a little nearer 
and listen." 

The man stopped a short distance away, and 
drank in the sounds as though they were heavenly 
music. The poor afflicted child of his imagination 
fled for ever. He turned with his face radiating j oy . 

" Gott sei dank/" he ejaculated. "Now I 
know it's not true, but I was always afraid. People 
always said she was tauh-stumm. Now I can tell 
them what fools they are. Tve heard Her Royal 
Highness with my own ears." He departed 
joyously to spread the glad tidings. 

But many people are hard to convince. One 
dear old lady in Berlin whom I knew was always 
making doubtful inquiries of me on this subject, 
and, like Thomas, refused to believe. 

" Ach, yes ! " she would say, " of course you 
dare not tell me the truth. You have to say 
that she is all right." 

" Of course," I mocked, "it is essential for a 
deaf-and-dumb person to have an English teacher, 
isn't it — ^and another one for French? She is 
deaf-and-dumb in three languages." 



144 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

The lady was still doubtful, and I left her deeply 
pondering. 

After three days we left Donau-Eschingen for 
Strasburg, a very beautiful town, disfigured by a 
terribly ugly modern palace, w. \ the Emperor 
calls the " Railway-palace," as ae considers it 
to be of that hideously harsh, painful form of 
architecture we have been accustomed to bear 
with, for purely utilitarian purposes. *' They 
built it before my time," he hastens to tell 
every one. " Makes me feel ill every time I 
see it." 

It was a huge, square gaunt building, sur- 
rounded by a palisaded garden, which contained 
not a solitary spot where any one could be free 
from the attentions of the crowd. 

Whenever the Princess walked in it for a few 
minutes, or wanted to sit and work under a tree, 
the whole length of palisade, only a few yards away, 
became a mass of human bodies : the butcher- 
boy with his basket, the maidservant on her way 
to market, the workman with his pipe, rows upon 
rows of schoolboys and girls with their teachers, 
clerks and washerwomen, all welded themselves 
into a solid mass and concentrated their gaze 
upon one poor unfortunate child. She fled into 
the house for the time, and then the crowd melted 
away, only to re-form the moment any one re- 
appeared. The Emperor gave orders that the 
palisades should be boarded up inside, but of 
course it was impossible to do it at once, so that 
all that week of lovely weather the Princess had 
to stay indoors or content herself with drives 
round the town, followed by a clattering con- 



DONAU-ESCHINGEN AND METZ 145 

tingent of schoolboys. The people seemed to 
be delighted to see the Princess, and were con- 
tinually waving pocket-handkerchiefs as soon as 
she appeared. They also greeted the Emperor 
and Empress with great enthusiasm when they 
arrived ; but whether this was just the German 
portion of the population, who tried to cover up 
by their exuberant loyalty any deficiencies on 
the part of the French, it is hard to say. 

The Princess went with her mother to visit 
the lovely old Cathedral of Strasburg, and saw the 
wonderful clock and its flapping cock and moving 
figures, and then drove through the old, pictur- 
esque part of the town, among queer old wooden 
houses with carved beams. 

The Empress visited hospitals and orphanages 
all day, and in the evenings big, tiresome official 
dinners took place, at which every one looked 
bored. The Princess was not there, but peeped 
at them between the big red- velvet curtains which 
shut off a portion of the dining-hall. 

The last day of the journey was spent at Metz, 
where the Emperor reviewed an army corps. 
Their entry into this town must have seemed 
strange indeed to Their Majesties, accustomed 
as they are to smiling, shouting crowds. Here 
there was no welcome, no smile, not a single flag. 
The people who stood in the streets looked on 
idly, like spectators of a curious show, as the long 
procession of carriages with their outriders moved 
on, to the sound only of the rumble of their own 
wheels. Sometimes a lady remarked resentfully 
on the strange absence of enthusiasm. The 
names over the doors were French, the faces 

10 



146 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

were French, there was an atmosphere of French 
hostihty. 

Under a Httle awning, in the burning sunshine, 
the Empress stood for two hours, smihng and 
bowing while the troops marched past. The 
Emperor was on his horse a Httle distance away, 
amidst a group of officers. On the roof of a 
neighbouring building were gathered together 
the only Germans in the town. Here was a 
flutter of white, a shouting of Hurrah ! a move- 
ment of welcome and delight, a little lonely 
outpost of loyalty and patriotism. The people 
on the roof and one or two rather dirty little boys 
were the only spectators present. The beautiful 
town went on with its own affairs while the 
German soldiers marched and rode past. 

It seemed something of an anomaly and a 
mistake that these stalwart brown young men, 
good-tempered and patient as all German soldiers 
appear to be, should be living in a kind of 
exile within their own Empire, cordially dis- 
liked by the people among whom their lot is cast, 
not for any personal reason, but solely as a 
heritage left to them by a dead-and-gone genera- 
tion. None of them were born at the time of 
the Franco-Prussian war, but they have their 
share of its aftermath. The Prussian spirit is not 
conciliatory. It has a knack of letting the con- 
quered drink to the dregs the cup of humiliation ; 
its press is bombastic, and has none of the large- 
minded tolerance which enables it to appreciate 
the acute sufferings of a proud, humiliated 
people. 

About five years after the end of the Boer war, 



DONAU-ESCHINGEN AND METZ 147 

a German lady who was dining at court drew 
me aside after dinner. 

" To-day," she said, " I have been talking to 
a German gentleman who has been living in your 
Orange River Free State, or whatever you call it ; 
and he tells me that the Boers are quite content 
now to be under your Government — they do not 
want to change back again." 

** Are they ? " I said. " Is he quite sure ? " 

" Oh, quite, quite certain. He knows. He is 
a German. They know he is a German. They 
tell him the truth. He says they are absolutely 
satisfied. Now tell me : how do you manage 
it ? And with so few soldiers, I am told — hardly 
any at all. How do you do it ? In five years ! 
And look at us in Elsass Lothringen. We don't 
know how to satisfy them. They will never be 
satisfied. We are always in fear of war. Tell 
us your secret." She laid her hand on my arm 
and looked at me intently, as though she could 
surprise the secret out of me. 

'' Oh, I don't know," I said lamely. " You see 
we've had a lot of practice at governing, and made 
an awful lot of mistakes, and we've learned a little 
by our past mistakes ; I suppose that is one reason. 
So we know what are the kind of things that 
people won't stand. And we let them a good deal 
alone afterwards, and play cricket and football 
with them and things of that kind ; and we let 
them vote the same as the rest of us, and — er — 
well, we don't treat them any differently from the 
rest, as far as I can make out — just let them alone 
to conspire or do as they like — and then if they 
know they can, they don't want to. See ? And 



148 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

then our Tommies — our soldiers — are very good 
too ; they're not brought up to be so patriotic 
as yours — so, of course, it's less galling : they'd 
just as soon chum up with the enemy afterwards 
as not. Yours are brought up to look on him 
rather as a criminal, aren't they ? Not the 
officers, of course, but the others. They are 
patronizingly kind and pitying, and no one likes 
that, do they ? You don' t want conquered people 
to lose their self-respect. Well, I don't know, 
I'm sure " 

" Cricket and football," the lady murmured, 
" and not too patriotic, and a vote, and let them 
conspire if they want to, and the soldiers are 
* chummy.' Ach ! We cannot do that. It is a 
matter of national temperament, I suppose, but it 
is sad, very sad. Here in five years you pacify 
your enemy, and in forty years we have not begun 
to pacify ours : it is a constant fear — a constant 
terror — one expects every day to hear that war 
has broken out. And you will not tell us your 
secret. How do you learn to govern like this ? 
No, it is impossible ! It must be, as I said, 
national temperament." 

She sighed and cast her eyes upward and walked 
away looking troubled. 



CHAPTER VIII 

EDUCATION 

THOSE ardent military Prussian educa- 
tionalists into whose hands is given 
the instruction of the tender princeling 
usually desire to develop in their pupil char- 
acteristics approximating as nearly as possible 
to those of the most famous HohenzoUern of his 
race, Frederick the Great ; and since, in their 
estimation, it was the harsh training of his child- 
hood and youth which stimulated into growth 
the splendid qualities of his manhood, they strive 
to reproduce as closely as they can — of course in 
harmony with the more enlightened ideas of the 
present day — something of the same strenuous 
atmosphere and stern conditions which surrounded 
that celebrated monarch as he grew up. 

The ordinary German child goes to school at 
a certain age, and if he is of average intelligence 
passes from one class to another according to the 
rules laid down for him, securing every year his 
*' remove," working steadily upward to his ex- 
amination, after which he goes to the University, or 
if of the working classes to the earning of his daily 
bread until the age for military service ; all is 
preordained, and one step leads naturally to the 
next. In theory this is what happens to a prince- 

149 



150 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

ling of either sex, but the difficulties in the way- 
are manifold and subtle ; chief among them being 
the multiplicity of persons interested in his edu- 
cation, most of whom have, or think they have, 
paramount authority over their pupil. Usually 
the parents of a child arrange how it shall be 
educated, and kings and queens are no exception 
to this rule, but it is the admittance of the State 
functionary into the business that immediately 
complicates matters. Perhaps nothing is worse 
for any young child than to perceive that there 
are differences of opinion about his treatment 
among those whom he must obey. 

A young prince, having reached the age of 
seven, is promoted from the nursery to a room 
of his own, and instead of the ministrations of 
the faithful, crabbed, tyrannical, loving old nurse, 
probably of English nationality, who has washed 
and dressed and scolded him from birth, is given 
over to the care of a well-meaning but inexperi- 
enced footman and the supervision of a well-bred, 
well-educated, but equally inexperienced young 
officer, who, imbued with stern Prussian notions 
of discipline and a complete ignorance of childish 
needs, is prepared to do his duty at whatever 
cost and to lay the first foundations of a training 
which shall ultimately develop in his pupil the 
qualities of another Frederick the Great. It is a 
position requiring much tact on both sides, but 
who expects tact from a young officer ? There 
is the royal mamma to be reckoned with, for she 
considers that she has still some rights in her 
infant, even if he be one day destined to wear 
a crown ; and among various other people let us 



EDUCATION 151 

not forget the tutor, full of theories on education 
which he is yearning to put into practice. 

The prince, then, is installed in his own apart- 
ments of the palace, where he has his bedroom, sit- 
ting-room, and schoolroom, with suitable accommo- 
dation for his governor, as the young officer who 
has his education in hand is officially called, his 
tutor and his servants. He is supposed henceforth, 
in the rosy dreams of the governor, to be, except 
at occasional meal-times and perhaps a scanty 
hour in the evening, entirely sequestered from his 
family, devoted to qualifying himself for future 
renown in some one of the restricted careers, 
military for choice, open to royalty. If the prince 
has brothers of a suitable age they share his 
rooms, his governor, and his tutor, and are en- 
couraged to share his aspirations. 

The tutor draws up a portentous Stundenplan, 
which, copied by the footman in his intervals of 
leisure, is posted up in various conspicuous places, 
so that there is no excuse for not knowing the 
particular study, pause from study, walk, ride, 
or drill that shall be taking place at a particular 
hour or minute. The hitherto more or less casual 
education of the prince now gives way to a strictly 
regulated regime. He begins to follow the ordinary 
curriculum of the German secondary schools, and 
knows exactly what stage he has reached on the 
ladder of learning; for every child in Germany, 
be he prince or peasant, educated at home or 
at school, works to a certain universal standard 
which, whatever may be its drawbacks, establishes 
a curious educational bond throughout the Empire 
and is eminently characteristic of the nation. 



152 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

The tutor, who usually resides in the royal 
palace, is of a type unknown in England. He is 
a young man, often a Kandidat for the ministry, 
but by no means curate-like in mind or appear- 
ance ; he has passed his examination at a uni- 
versity (which does not necessarily imply a 
university education), and gained his experience 
of teaching in one of the Government boys' or 
girls' schools — for all State schools for girls in 
Germany are managed and mainly taught by 
men. If he has had a university education prob- 
ably the only trace of it will be a disfiguring scar 
on his face, relic of a student's duel, of which he 
will be inordinately proud ; but if he is going 
to be a Pastor the scar will be absent, as well as 
the year's military training which he would 
otherwise have undergone — a distinct loss for 
any one who has in hand a prince to educate. 

A volume might be written on German tutors, 
more especially on those employed in royal house- 
holds. They are usually solemn, fleshy, con- 
scientious young men in black frock-coats and 
Cylinder (top-hats), who in a few years develop 
an alarming embonpoint, and after finishing their 
work of implanting in princely minds a sufficiency 
of classics, history, and mathematics, retire to 
other spheres of labour, provided by courtly 
influence — spheres which they rarely consider to 
be worthy of the services they have rendered. 
They usually know nothing at all of sport, though 
professing to know a good deal, as in their vocabu- 
lary sport is only another name for exercise : 
they fondly imagine that the man who trots on 
horseback every morning round the Tier-Garten, 



EDUf \TION ., 153 

especially if he wears English gaiters and carries 
a hunting-crop, is a sportsman, and consider 
any game "sporting" where there is plenty of 
running — even if no demand be made on the 
courage, decision, quickness or other mental 
qualifications of the players. They are unable 
to grasp the sporting idea, which, after attempted 
explanation, they believe to be a figment of the 
English imagination. 

On the occasion of the thirteenth birthday of 
the Princess Victoria Louise, she invited the 
pupils of one of the aristocratic girls' schools 
of which the Empress her mother is patroness, to 
have tea and games with her in the lovely Wild- 
park, close to the New Palace. I was asked to 
draw up a programme of sports for the occasion, 
as the games usually played on former birthdays 
were stigmatized by Her Royal Highness as 
childish and silly {" kindisch und albern"). 

So a list of various obstacle and fiat races was 
arranged, as well as potato, egg- and- spoon, and 
sack-races (which I own I had hesitated to 
introduce, fearing they were hardly fitting for the 
amusement of tender female German aristocracy, 
but, under pressure from the giver of the feast, 
had finally included in the programme). 

A delightfully smooth grassy spot surrounded 
by magnificent fir trees was the place chosen 
for the revels. The day was ideal for a September 
picnic — one of those warm, mellow autumn after- 
noons with magic melting blue distances, when 
departing Summer seems to put on her loveliest 
attire and most attractive mood before saying 
her final farewell. All the mosquitoes — that 



154 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

plague of Potsdam in summer — had departed, 
the fir-trees distilled their resinous balm in the 
sunshine, which played in flickering light and shade 
on their red sienna stems and dark-green masses 
of foliage ; the beeches were beginning to turn a 
tawny yellow, while there was a fresh sparkle in 
the air, exhilarating to the spirits and peculiarly 
appropriate, it was felt, to the performance of feats 
of skill. 

Four Kremserwagen — enormous wagonettes, 
much in request on fete-days in Germany — brought 
the smiling loads of happy maidenhood, all dressed 
in their neat white-linen uniform dresses and 
sailor hats, to the appointed place. There were 
seventy or eighty of them altogether, besides six 
teachers. The proceedings began with tea, and 
immediately it was finished the joyous crowd of 
girls, reinforced by some other young princes 
and princesses who came accompanied by their 
tutors, two young men wearing orthodox top- 
hats and frock-coats and a general air of funereal 
respectability, began to play " tag," " drop- 
handkerchief," and other games which they had 
confidently expected as a form of diversion usual 
to the occasion. But they were soon stopped and 
that a totally new and superior form of enter- 
tainment had been provided for them, founded on 
English principles, of which I was to be the organizer 
and exponent. 

Nervous apprehension took possession of my 
soul as, followed by the radiantly expectant 
" Backfische" I wended my way anxiously to our 
Sportplatz. Here the hurdles, corn-sacks, and 
other material had been brought from the palace 



EDUCATION 155 

stables by two respectfully-interested grooms, who 
fondly hoped to witness the English sports from 
a suitable distance, but were remorselessly sent 
away. 

The ropes, red flags, buckets, eggs, spoons and 
other things were regarded with excited anticipa- 
tion and wonderment — especially the basket con- 
taining the prizes, which, I may as well mention 
here, cost individually not more than twopence 
each, collectively just eighteen shillings — a sum 
afterwards refunded to us by Her Majesty the 
Empress, who thought it '' extremely cheap for 
so much joy," providing, as it did, more than 
ninety prizes. 

By a subtly-arranged system of handicapping 
and consolation races each girl, whatever her 
abilities in the domain of athletics, was eventually 
enabled to obtain one of the coveted prizes, pre- 
sented, it is needless to say, at the conclusion of 
the proceedings by the little Princess herself, who, 
an ardent devotee of sport, had competed with 
success in many of the races, waiving, however, 
her right to a prize in favour of her guests. 

This untried excursion into the unknown turned 
out a brilliant success from every point of view ; 
the teachers, who had been formed into a Sports 
Committee, with quick feminine intuition had 
immediately grasped their duties, which they 
carried out with the greatest intelligence and 
impartiality ; the girls themselves were the keen- 
est and most enthusiastic I ever met ; their 
achievements in the sack-race — won by the young 
Baroness Irma von Kramm — must have been 
seen to be believed (*' Is this a usual English 



156 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

sport for ladies ? " asked the head-mistress, as 
they hopped screaming past the winning post) ; 
but the only rift within the lute was the attitude 
of the tutors, which, to say the least of it, was 
decidedly chilly. Perhaps they felt uncomfort- 
able in the midst of that vortex of feminity, or 
they may have been offended at not being on the 
Committee, or that they were not invited in their 
manly capacity to take the direction of affairs ; be 
that as it may, they remained austerely aloof, only 
occasionally interfering when some one fell down 
or seemed likely to get overheated. One of more 
genial mood than his fellows had stood near the 
hurdle in the obstacle race, and on its being 
knocked over had proposed to substitute in its 
place a rope, which, as he pointed out, '' could be 
easily lowered as each girl jumped it" ; but his 
suggestion meeting with no approval, rather with 
general derision as likely to make a mock of com- 
petitors, he retired from all further active partici- 
pation in our gamboUings. 

The sons of the Emperor were unusually fortunate 
in their Governor, who together with his military 
training possessed the broad-minded, more tolerant 
liberal spirit of the age, and knew when to sink 
the martinet in the man. He was able to realize 
that the formation of character is first of all a 
development from within, chiefly moulded by 
the cast of the minds that surround it — ^a growth 
of mind modified, not produced, by outward 
circumstances. 

The Crown Prince and his brother Prince Fritz 
remained only for a very short time under his 
charge before going on to the university ; but the 




THE CROWN PRINCE AND HIS HEIR, PRINCE WILHELM 



EDUCATION 157 

younger Princes were in his care for some years 
at Ploen, where I was once invited to stay for 
a few weeks to give Prince Joachim lessons in 
Enghsh. 

The "Schloss" where the Princes hved was a 
large, bright, pleasant country-house standing in 
pretty but not large grounds, bordered by forest, 
on the edge of the beautiful Ploener See. From 
the neighbouring Kadetten-Schule, where the boys 
undergo a semi-military training, four to six cadets 
were chosen to share the lessons and amusements 
of the Princes, always returning to the Schule to 
sleep. 

Ploen is a very small, primitive town, so small 
that I made the mistake of calling it a '' village " 
and was severely reprimanded by Prince Joachim 
for my blunder. It had just one long straggling 
street, with a few shops, and at the end close to 
the lake stood the Kadetten Schule, which had 
formerly been the residence of the old Danish 
Kings, some of whose bodies lay in the crypt of 
the little chapel adjoining — a dismal place, full 
of sarcophagi huddled together in mouldering 
oblivion. 

As the boys were occupied all morning with 
their other studies, I, who was lodged in the 
Prinzen-Villa under the fostering care of the 
wife of the private detective, had nothing to do 
till one o'clock ; and the Governor kindly allowed 
me to ride one of his two horses every morning — 
fine big cavalry chargers, which fled away with 
me in a light-hearted manner over the tree-shaded 
roads and fields, evidently pleased at my light 
weight and determined that I should have a goocj 



158 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

time. I had been allowed to bring my side- 
saddle from the New Palace : " the very first 
time," the Master of the Horse assured me, " that 
such a privilege had ever been granted to any 
lady at court." He jokingly said he hoped it 
would not establish a precedent, and I said I hoped 
it would. The stable authorities were always very 
amiable and courteous, and anxious to gratify 
my taste for riding. 

These morning excursions allowed me to explore 
a great deal of the neighbourhood, which I should 
otherwise have been unable to see. All this 
district of Holstein is rather flat, but beautifully 
wooded, with many lakes which add a wistful 
calm beauty to the sleepy landscape. There is 
something reminiscent of England in the farm- 
houses and the hedgerows, which are never 
seen in Brandenburg, where the fields are un- 
fenced. 

At one o'clock I was at the Schloss for luncheon, 
where I had to talk English with the Prince and 
his cadets — charming boys, some of whom I had 
met in Potsdam, where they lived. None of the 
tutors knew any English, though one of them 
had evidently learned some from a book which 
professed — ^without fulfilling its profession — to 
teach '' without a teacher." 

After luncheon the boys, including the Prince, 
who was then about fifteen, all went with me 
down to the "island" which lay in the lake, and 
where farming operations on a small scale were 
carried on. 

A long narrow road led to the island, which was 
really a peninsula, and there everybody, including 



EDUCATION 159 

the Prince and myself, engaged in the occupa- 
tion — it being the season of potato harvest 
— of digging potatoes out of the ground and 
gathering them into heaps. The coachman and 
footman and a young officer, a sort of deputy- 
governor, all assisted in this work. Some geese 
came along and gobbled up the stray small 
potatoes we threw in their direction, and the sun, 
reflected from the lake in front, shone brightly 
on us as we toiled, girt round with potato-sacks 
to keep our clothes clean. This participation 
in agricultural pursuits is a part of the training 
devised by the Governor, but, as he himself was 
not an agriculturist, I doubt whether it was 
really as beneficial as it might have been. The 
propagation and development of seeds, the rearing 
of young animals, and the study of their wants, 
would, I think, have been less monotonous than 
this incessant potato gathering, which we pursued 
nearly every afternoon while I was there. 

At five, when the afternoon train to Kiel was 
seen in the distance, we took off our sack-aprons 
and went home to tea, and I was free for an hour 
or so, when I gave an English lesson to the whole 
class of boys, which nearly always also included 
their Governor and the officer from the Schule 
who was teaching them English, a very pleasant, 
kind young man, who sat humbly (metaphorically 
speaking) at my feet and was anxious to learn 
all he could. They had been reading Dickens' 
" Christmas Carol " — everybody in Germany reads 
Dickens, and gets quite a wrong idea of present- 
day English life from his books^ — but I produced 
Conan Doyle's '' Adventures of Brigadier Gerard,*' 



160 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

as being in my opinion more suitable for boys, as 
well as more colloquial and military in tone. I never 
had a class which hung so much on my words 
before. As they all spoke with a very bad accent, 
I read to them myself, so that they could hear 
English, and then we discussed the story and the 
meaning of obscure words and phrases. They 
were very alert and intelligent, and soon became 
deeply absorbed in the " Brigadier." 

Sometimes in the mornings after my ride I would 
walk with the officer who taught English and 
converse with him, so that he might have the 
benefit of my accent ; and once he took me to 
the Schule and installed me in his class, to hear 
how he instructed his thirty boys there. He was 
a most intelligent teacher, and spoke very correct 
English. It amused me to hear some of the 
pupils reciting " Rule Britannia " out of their 
English Reading-Books. It sounded like a deri- 
sive challenge as they declaimed the poem with 
that clear, distinct utterance specially cultivated 
in all German schools. I could with difficulty 
keep from smiling to hear a young German piping 
its bombastic lines : \ 

" All thine shall be the subject main, 
And every shore it circles thine. 
Rule Britannia, etc.," 

while Kiel, with its rapidly increasing war-fleet, 
lay only an hour's journey away. 

But they were very pleasant and kindly, all 
those German officers ; they showed me their 
class-rooms, their gymnasium, everything that 
they thought could interest me. If they knew 



EDUCATION 161 

only two words of English they said those two ; 
but as I was by that time a fairly fluent speaker 
of German, we were able to exchange views with- 
out any difficulty. That rather hard, harsh, 
overbearing Prussian spirit that one meets in 
Berlin here seemed softened and humanized, 
and the atmosphere of the place was not so rigid 
and mechanical as military institutions are apt 
to be. It is true that the boys, whenever ad- 
dressed, instantly fell into those stiff, wooden 
military attitudes which are a little disconcerting 
to unaccustomed people, squaring their shoulders, 
putting their heels together and lifting up their 
chins ; but when one got used to it it was not 
so noticeable. 

The general impression gained from the military 
ideal as applied to education in Germany is that, 
while excellently thorough and practical, it yet 
ignores too much those other world-forces due to 
science, invention and discovery, which day by 
day are changing the conditions of life among the 
nations — ^that it cherishes a spirit more suitable 
to past ages than to present progress. It seems 
to breed up a class of men who are earnest, loyal, 
and self-sacrificing, but possess extremely narrow 
views, who see and judge everything from a 
purely military, autocratic standpoint, and are 
quite unable to sympathize with or understand 
the aspirations of the normal human being to- 
wards personal initiative and liberty of action. 

Crushed as a nation a hundred years since, 
under the great Napoleon, the members of this 
military caste are still ruled by the fear of des- 
potism from without, and ignore the despotism 
11 



162 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

within of their own creation, still fight ideas with 
physical force, hold the uniform as sacrosanct, are 
overbearing, touchy, often (with, of course, many 
exceptions) insufferably vain and spiteful. They 
realize most emphatically that they are the 
masters, not the servants, of the German people ; 
they are a class aloof, apart, a class wielding tre- 
mendous social and political power. Sometimes 
it seems almost a pity that Carlyle rediscovered 
the virtues of that " iracund Hohenzollern " 
Frederick William I. So many latter-day Prus- 
sians, without possessing his sturdy virtues, 
seem to model their conduct on his, and try to 
impress the world by the more disagreeable, 
rather than the more praiseworthy traits of 
his vivid forceful personality. 



CHAPTER IX 

THE BAUERN-HAUS AND SCHRIPPEN- 

FEST 

THE Bauern-Haiis or peasant cottage which 
the Emperor gave to his daughter at 
Christmas was built and ready for occu- 
pation by the time she returned to the New Palace 
in the spring. It was solemnly inaugurated, 
being unlocked by the Emperor and presented 
by him to the Princess, who was overjoyed at 
having a place where she could cook and wash 
clothes to her heart's content ; for, like most people 
of royal birth, she was attracted chiefly towards 
those occupations in which she was least likely 
ever to be engaged. 

Before the advent of the Bauern-Hans we had 
made toffee on a doll's stove in a doll's saucepan, 
but the brocaded chairs and sofas of the rooms 
of the Prinzen-Wohming were an unsuitable back- 
ground for tentative culinary efforts, and the 
Princess sensibly remarked that grown-up people 
had not dolls' appetites and she wanted to cook 
something for " Papa." 

It is true that, having a cold, he had partaken 
of the toffee (which turned out rather soft) with 
much appreciation, but we were eager to prove 
ourselves capable of higher achievements. 

All the dolls' crockery -ware, saucepans and 

163 



164 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

frying-pans were taken over to the Haus, which 
was built in one of the side gardens a little distance 
from the Palace. 

The first time we indulged there in an orgie of 
cooking, the Princess, wishing to play the part 
properly, donned an embroidered peasant's dress 
which had been presented to her by the good 
Bauern-Volk who came to Donau-Eschingen. We 
met the guard on our way to the garden. They 
were dreadfully non-plussed when they first 
caught sight of her in this costume, not being 
sure if it really was the Princess or not, but finally 
decided to render the customary honours. The 
wearer of the dress had thrown herself so entirely 
into the part of Bauern-jrau that this obvious 
anachronism annoyed her extremely. She found 
the costume, moreover, rather tight and hot, and 
not very practical for beating eggs in, and there- 
fore decided not to wear it again when she really 
wanted to work. 

As I was the only lady in the Palace having the 
faintest theoretical or practical idea of the art of 
cooking, I was chosen to guide the children in 
their first attempts. Two footmen preceded us, 
carrying firewood, matches and coal, with which 
they were to start the little tiled stove, while 
half a dozen children followed with flour, eggs, 
butter, milk, and other materials, all of which had 
been commandeered from the royal kitchens. 

The stoutest heart might have quailed, the 
best cook in the world might have trembled, at 
the enterprise I had undertaken. To cook, or 
rather to teach a lot of riotous, screaming children 
to cook — on a stove whose capacities were not 



BAUERN-HAUS AND SCIIRIPPEN-FEST 165 

yet known, in a kitchen supplied chiefly with 
inadequate and doll-Hke utensils — a sort of com- 
bined tea and supper to which an Emperor and 
Empress and goodness knew how many more 
people had been hospitably, but I could not but 
feel recklessly, invited ! 

It was very hot. Mosquitoes swarmed every- 
where. The chimney smoked relentlessly till 
one of the footmen discovered a damper. The 
wood was wet. There was no water, no knives 
and forks, and we had forgotten the salt ; but the 
affair had to be a success, and we set out perse- 
veringly to carry it through. 

The Princess had decided that we would have 
pancakes for tea — the usual English kind made 
with eggs and milk — and the six children were 
accordingly sent outside on to the verandah to 
beat eggs, while I tried to review my forces and 
collect a few ideas — a dreadful business with a 
swarm of children, asking questions in the rather 
loud-voiced German way, running up to show 
their eggs, or spilling them on the floor, while 
not a single cup or saucer was as yet in its place. 

By some miraculous means we managed to ice 
a cake with chocolate — a sheer tottr-de- force of 
inventive genius, for I had never done such a thing 
before in my life. We cut quantities of very thin 
bread and butter, at which one of the footmen 
displayed unsuspected dexterity. The much- 
beaten eggs duly mixed with flour and milk made 
excellent pancakes. Each child had "tasted" 
of them liberally, pronouncing them " Gross- 
artig ! Prachtvoll ! " 

All too soon the Emperor and Empress were seen 



166 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

wending their way in our direction, accompanied, to 
the Princess's great indignation, by two adjutants. 

" I never invited the gentlemen," she said in 
tones of annoyance; "there won't be half enough 
pancakes to go round." 

I remained discreetly in the background in 
the kitchen, concentrating my mind on frying. 
The tea was good because it was just freshly 
made, and the pancakes for the same reason, hot 
from the fire and spared the usual long journey 
down the tunnel from the Palace kitchens, were, 
in spite of the inadequate doll's plates on which 
they had perforce to be served, crisp and tooth- 
some. 

The Emperor ate with the greatest appetite 
and appreciation, praising his daughter's cooking, 
and obviously believing, in the usual facile masculine 
way, that she had suddenly acquired this difficult 
art. I heard her holding forth on the necessity 
of beating the eggs severely for ten minutes at 
least (she did not mention those which had escaped 
from the basin to the ground) and talking at large 
with the air of a person who had plumbed all the 
depths of culinary difficulties. 

" Yes, of course they stick to the pan if you 
don't put lots of butter — lots and lots." We had 
indeed used several pounds. 

I think His Majesty accounted for four pan- 
cakes and then concentrated on chocolate cake 
and bread-and-butter, after which the Empress 
noticed my absence, and I was compelled re- 
luctantly to appear — very red-faced and greasy — 
and modestly accept the Imperial congratulations 
on my successful efforts. Room was made for 



BAUKRN-HAUS AND SCIIRIPPEN-FKST 167 

ino ti) sit down with the rest, and the chocolate 
cake was warmly recommended to my attention. 

" Fancy an Englishwoman knowing how to 
cook ! " said the I^lmpcror, laughing. 

I respectfully but Ihmly pointed out that not 
a single German lady inhabiting the palace con- 
fessed to any culinary knowledge whatever. They 
had all been approached on the subject, and their 
ideas were found hazy and vague in the extreme. 
Not one had been in a position to help in that 
strenuous afternoon's work. (His Majesty is 
subject to the illusion that all German women 
are extremely domesticated.) The Emperor's blue 
eyes twinkled. 

"Ah, ah!" he laughed, "the British 'Dread- 
nought ' again to the fore." 

That was his favourite name for me. It had 
been bestowed on the birthday of the Princess — 
the only one of those anniversaries on which the 
Emperor was present, for he was usually away 
at the autumn manoeuvres on that date (Sep- 
tember 13), but this one year he happened to 
be at home. Although as a rule only one of 
the three ladies of the Princess, German, French, 
or English, accompanied her to the Friihstiicks- 
tafel, on this occasion in honour of the day all 
were invited, and as we followed her into the dining- 
room an adjutant remarked in the Emperor's 
hearing upon Prinzessin' s Geschwader (Princess's 
Squadron), referring to ourselves. 

This epithet as applied to the trio amused His 
Majesty greatly, and he tried during the meal 
to fit us all three with appropriate nautical 
names, one — the German Ober-Gouvernante — being 



168 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

called the '' tug," Mademoiselle the '* torpedo- 
boat," while amid the hilarity of the assembled 
company he decided that '' Dreadnought " was 
the term which best applied to me ; and although 
the two other ladies escaped any further reference 
to their supposed prototypes, I was not so fortu- 
nate, for the name '' Dreadnought " stuck to me 
thenceforth. When I appeared in a new hat or 
dress His Majesty would whimsically remark, 
" Here comes the Dreadnought in a new coat of 
paint," or some equally embarrassing observation. 
Perhaps I was considered to be uncompromisingly 
British, or representative of my nation, but when 
the Princess curled her arm round my neck and mur- 
mured, '' Good old Dreadnought ! " I did not mind 
the epithet so much, and grew in time to like it. 

It was at the same Fruhstucks-tafel that we 
three ladies for the first and only time in our lives 
had the privilege of ''taking wine" with His 
Majesty. Usually on birthdays and anniversaries 
of various kinds it is a custom at court to stand 
up and clink glasses together before drinking, 
but this is not often done when the Emperor 
is present. He sometimes '* drinks wine " with 
any particular gentleman whom he wishes to 
honour, who stands up, takes his full glass in his 
hand, bows to the Emperor, and empties it at a 
draught before sitting down again. I had never 
seen a lady invited to " take wine " with His 
Majesty, and believed it to be a privilege reserved 
for the sterner sex ; but while I was chatting to 
an officer at table, the one on the other side, he 
who had called us a Geschwader, touched my arm 
and whispered '' His Majesty wishes to drink 



BAUERN-IIAUS AND SCHRIPPEN-FEST 169 

wine with you. Aufgestanden und Ausgetrunken ! 
(standing, and no heel-taps !) " 

The Emperor was smiHng in my direction, glass 
in hand ; so I stood up at once with my champagne 
glass filled to the brim (fortunately I habitually 
replenished it with water every time I drank) 
and was able to toss it off very creditably, thanks 
to the adjutant's kindly hint and the comparative 
innocuousness of the beverage. His Majesty also 
" took wine," of course, with the other ladies of 
the Geschwader. 

The Bauern-Haus remained for several years a 
centre of joyous-hearted hospitality and reckless 
and extravagant cookery. Once the two cousins 
of the Princess came over from Glienicke to help to 
prepare supper, accompanied by a French gover- 
ness and an elegantly-attired tutor in a top-hat 
and frock-coat. There was no place in our cookery 
scheme into which the tutor fitted. So we sent 
him and the French lady to walk about the gardens 
together, while the children, in a glow of enthu- 
siasm, sat down to peel potatoes for an Irish 
stew. Prince Leopold (the cousin) insisted — in 
spite of advice to the contrary — in also trying 
to peel the onions ; but after weeping copious 
tears over the first one, allowed somebody else to 
finish. Besides the stew, we had chops, poached 
eggs, pancakes, and lemonade. 

The Empress, in a very light, elegant toilette, 
arrived at an acute stage of activity, when every 
child was running, shrieking, clattering glasses, 
or spilling water, while the sputter of chops and 
pancakes and the reek of their frying filled the 
small kitchen to repletion. 



170 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

Fortunately we had long since been supplied 
with full-sized cooking utensils and the doll- 
things had been scrapped. 

A heavy thunderstorm once threatened at the 
very moment when the supper had reached the 
culminating point of perfection. We had fried 
our pancakes (they were a favourite dish and 
always appeared on the menu) to the accom- 
paniment of rumbles of thunder and blue flashes 
of lightning, but the Princess ignored the gathering 
storm, absorbed in the mixing of her batter and 
the smoothness of her potato puree. As I emerged 
in a decidedly heated state from the kitchen, I 
caught a mental picture, which still remains in my 
memory, of a protesting footman standing on the 
veranda pointing to the darkened heavens, and 
of the Princess with a fork in her hand, which she 
flourished in one hand towards the sky (like 
another Ajax defying the lightning), while she 
emphatically refused to return to the house before 
supper was eaten. 

" Our beautiful supper," she said: '' no, I won't 
go in. The storm's nothing. It's going over." 
Crashes of thunder punctuated the sentence. 

A harassed Ober-Gouvernante appeared round 
the bushes and commanded our instant return 
to the palace ; but after several minutes of heated 
discussion the storm actually did pass over, and 
our supper was eaten to the sound of its faint 
rumbling retreat towards the river. 

Another time we ventured to make vanilla- 
ice, and sent to the kitchen for the ice-machine. 
As we were mixing the milk and eggs and vanilla 
flavouring, four white-capped cooks in their spot- 



BAUERN-HAUS AND SC HRIPPEN-FEST 171 

less kitchen livery were seen dragging along some 
sort of wheeled vehicle on which reposed the 
heavy ice-machine, which we found to our astonish- 
ment to be an apparatus almost as large as a 
piano. 

It was lifted down — as a matter of fact I think 
two cooks might have managed it — and the guests 
took turns at the handle with such goodwill that 
unfortunately we rather overdid it, and the iced 
custard became of such a hard rock-like con- 
sistency that we had to thaw it a little before it 
was fit to eat. But it was pronounced " quite 
delicious," and we were sorry we had not made 
a larger quantity. 

Pfingsten, as Whitsuntide is called in Germany, 
is celebrated by many pleasant customs. It is 
the season when all the village people place big 
boughs of young larch on each side of the doorway 
to welcome the returning spring. Every street 
breaks out into a sudden growth of unaccustomed 
greenery, and in the churches young larch trees 
cut from the hill-side are placed on each side of 
the altar. 

In the New Palace the garrison celebrated Whit 
]\Ionday by the Schrippen-Fest, a dinner instituted 
by Frederick the Great for their benefit. All the 
previous week the soldiers might have been seen 
busily at work in their spare time making the 
long green garlands of pine and fir twigs with 
which every good German loves to give outward 
expression of his inward joy. They erected round 
the arcade of the "Communs" plank tables and 
benches covered with a wooden roof upheld by 
posts round which the garlands were entwined. 



172 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

Early on the morning of Whit Monday big copper 
cauldrons containing beef, prunes and rice, were 
set boiHng out of doors. 

Originally the feast had begun in a small way 
by the distribution to the soldiers of Schrippen, 
or small loaves of white bread, but in the course 
of years it had developed into a substantial meal. 

To the Schrippen -Fest the whole Diplomatic 
Corps and many officers and ladies are invited, 
and there is a gay assemblage of people at the 
military service for the garrison, which takes 
place out of doors, under the trees at one end of 
the palace. After it is finished the Emperor 
and Empress, with their family and guests, go to 
partake of the feast with the soldiers. They do 
not as a rule sit down, but eat their meat and 
prunes standing. All the ladies in their trained 
silk dresses, the ambassadors, generals, and 
adjutants in their uniforms, are served with a 
plateful of boiled beef, and eat it wherever they 
can find elbow-room. When Their Majesties have 
finished, they walk, followed by the assembled 
company, down between the tables, inspecting 
the soldiers and asking them questions. " Where 
do you come from ? How long have you served ? 
Have you had a good dinner ? " seem to be the 
stock questions, varied by inquiries as to name, 
father's business, and any other queries that 
seem to fit the occasion. 

Here it may be remarked that the Emperor 
and his family possess in an unusual degree what 
Kipling calls the " common touch." They know 
how to talk to poor men, working men, without 
any shadow of that patronizing affability often 




THK KAISKK AND MIS Kl.I .KSl' ( ;k.\M iSOX 



ri' 



BAUERN-IIAUS AND SCHRIPPEN-FEST 173 

mistakenly empk)}'ed by one class when trying to 
be nice to another which is not on the same social 
plane. 

An absolutely frank and unreserved interest 
in other people's affairs is implied in their con- 
\'ersation, an obvious desire really to know some- 
thing of the conditions of other people's lives. 
It is not perfunctory, though it easily, perhaps, 
might become so, especially in view of the tliou- 
sands of soldiers and other people to whom the 
Emperor talks in the course of a year. The 
Princess herself from childhood always had the 
happy knack of choosing the right thing to say 
to the poorest children she met. She always 
wanted to know their names, how many brothers 
and sisters they had, what class they were in at 
school, and what they were going to be when 
they grew up. One small boy confessed once to 
a desire to be a " chimney sweep." Never was 
she at a loss for something appropriate to say to 
the most cross-grained and morose of her fellow- 
mortals ; she never appeared to be shy, but, ap- 
parently quite at her ease herself, made every one 
else feel the same. She was not a devoted student 
of books, but possessed initiative and, as far as 
her experience went, correct judgment — two in- 
valuable qualities where princes are concerned. 

About a mile from the New Palace lived the 
only unmarried sister of the Empress, the Princess 
Feodora of Schleswig-TIolstein, a woman of many 
intellectual gifts and a very striking and interesting 
personality, possessing great influence over the 
children of her sister, who spent much time in 
'' Xante Feo's " beloved society. Her ideas were 



174 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

very democratic. She detested the atmosphere 
of courts and all the restrictions and ceremonies 
incident to court existence. She was a very 
clever artist, and author of several books dealing 
with the life of the peasantry and showing a 
marvellous insight into their methods of thought. 

Her home was for some years in a large farm- 
house belonging to the Crown known as " Born- 
stedter Gut," lived in for some time by the Emperor 
and Empress Frederick. The ground-floor was 
inhabited by the bailiff and his family. The rest 
of the house belonged to the Princess, to whom 
it had been lent by her brother-in-law the German 
Emperor, with whom she was a great favourite, 
in spite of the fact that on nearly every possible 
subject their views clashed uncompromisingly. 
She furnished it all according to her own taste, 
doing her shopping in Berlin like any ordinary 
Burger-frau among the crowd of other buyers. 
She loved the realities of life, and refused to have 
things made easier for her because she was the 
sister of the Empress. Only seven years older 
than her eldest nephew, the Crown Prince, she 
was from childhood the delightful play-fellow of 
the children of the Empress and of her other 
sisters, Princess Frederick Leopold of Prussia and 
the Duchess of Schleswig-Holstein. 

I first saw her at Bornstedt, where I had come 
to fetch my little Princess, who had been spending 
the afternoon with her aunt. The carriage I was 
in drove past a big farm-yard, where waggon- 
horses were being harnessed, up to the door of a 
big stone house pleasantly shaded by chestnut 
trees. As I got out of the carriage a sudden 



BAUERN-HAUS AND SCHRIPPEN-FEST 175 

irruption of screaming children, boys and girls 
of all ages in a state of extreme heat and un- 
tidiness, among whom I recognized my Princess, 
burst from the dark doorway of a cow-house, and 
trampling and stumbling over heaps of farm- 
yard litter, fled with shrieks up a perpendicular 
ladder into a hay-loft. They were followed at a 
short interval by a lady clad in a tweed skirt, a 
striped blouse and a Panama hat, who likewise 
flew up the ladder with remarkable agility and 
disappeared. Uproarious screams were presently 
heard issuing from the loft. They were evidently 
playing Versieckens, and my coachman confided 
to me that the lady of the ladder was Princess 
Feodbra herself. 

The Princess disliked the ordinary court circle, 
with its cramped, narrow views, and loved to 
surround herself with clever, unconventional 
people, whatever their rank in life. With her 
it was a positive obsession that all her royal 
nephews and nieces should know life as it really 
was, not as seen blurred and transformed through 
a court atmosphere, with the hideous, ugly 
realities of existence hidden away and covered 
up. She taught them many perhaps disagreeable 
truths about themselves, which they would have 
heard from no one else. The trend of modern 
thought and contemporary politics both found in 
her an earnest and intelligent student. With 
poverty, with humble folk, she had an intense 
sympathy, a passionate tenderness for all simple 
struggling existences. 

Although possessing a conspicuous sense of 
humour, in her books she wrote only of the sombre 



176 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

side of life, the bare starving sand-dunes of her 
native Holstein, the resinous breath of its pine- 
woods, the chill sad beat on the shore of its 
grey sea-waves. She depicted the strenuous toil, 
the unrelieved labour, the sordid existence and 
struggles of the peasantry. 

" The only truths in life," she makes one of 
her characters say, '' are founded upon Work. 
Everything else is false." 

In " Tante Feo's" company the little Princess 
had the privilege of seeing the first aeroplane 
flight of her life made by Orville Wright, who had 
installed himself and his machine on the Born- 
stedter Feld, where he was instructing the German 
officers in the art of flying. 

One day at the end of September 1909 came 
a telephone message from one of the Princes in 
Potsdam, saying that Orville Wright was flying 
on the "Feld." Without delay two " autos " 
were ordered by Her Majesty, one for herself and 
her sister and the Princess, the other for the suite ; 
and the palace buzzed like a hive while footmen 
flew about summoning the ladies to get ready at 
once. The two professors who ought to have 
been instructing the Princess in literature and 
history were sent off to the scene of action in a 
carriage (a propitiatory proceeding suggested, I 
believe, by the Princess herself, who never failed to 
display a certain diplomatic tact), while Made- 
moiselle and I huddled on our out-door things 
and tied motor- veils with tremblingly excited 
fingers. It was de rigiieur to get excited over 
flying, and nothing annoyed the Princess more 
than an attitude of philosophic calm. 



BAUERN-HAUS AND SCHRIPPEN-FEST 177 

We picked up Prince August Wilhelm and 
Prince George of Greece on the way, and sped 
onwards to the l)ig ca\'alry-exercise ground, over 
which the cars bumped at a furious pace. When 
we arrived, however, there was no sign of 
Mr. Wright. A gentleman appeared, who announced 
with a pronounced American accent that all 
flying was finished for that day, as the police 
had gone home again and there was no one to 
keep the crowd from straying on to the ground. 
But Her Majesty particularly wished Princess Feo 
to see a flight, as she was going away the same 
evening, and there was a discussion as to whether 
soldiers should be summoned from the adjacent 
barracks to keep the course. The American 
gentleman seemed to think that would make no 
difference to Mr. Wright, but at last a man 
was sent to his tent to announce Her Majesty's 
arrival, and presently he came along buttoning 
up his leather jacket as he walked— a quiet, 
taciturn individual who spoke in rather a soft, 
gentle voice when he spoke at all, which was 
not often. 

Some policemen on bicycles had materialized 
out of the surrounding landscape, and began to 
drive the crowd back to the road, where they 
were kept penned up by the arm of the law while 
we stood in the middle of the field to watch the 
flight. 

A few days later the Emperor himself went with 
the Empress and Princess to see Wright fly. It 
was the middle of October, when the days are 
getting short, and there had been some delay in 
starting, so that as the cars tore on to the Feld 

12 



178 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

the sun was setting in great clouds of scarlet and 
purple, and night fast approaching. Wright was 
waiting beside his machine, and after a word with 
the Emperor put on his jacket and goggles, and 
in a few seconds the motor began to hum steadily, 
the propellers whizzed round, and the huge 
machine moved along smoothly and swiftly up into 
the darkening heavens. Its wide-spread planes 
showed blackly for a moment against the intense 
sunset background, then it went droning round 
the immense space, rising higher and higher 
towards the stars, which were now shining brightly 
in the deep blue of the sky. For nearly half an 
hour, away above our heads, the machine circled 
and dived and rose again, humming smoothly 
and sleepily in the distance, then coming nearer 
with a threatening murmur, to rise and disappear 
again into the darkness, reappearing presently 
like a gigantic moth. At last it descended, 
dropping lightly within a few feet of us. The 
crowd on the edge of the field cheered heartily. 

The Emperor and Empress congratulated 
Wright, and there was a great explanation of 
" how it was done," though most of the officers 
found a difficulty in understanding the American 
accent. Presently a signed photograph of the 
Emperor, which one of the adjutants had been 
carrying, was produced and given to Wright by 
His Majesty; and then a lady who had been 
modestly hovering in the background — Miss 
Katherine Wright, the aeronaut's sister — was 
called up and presented, and she took charge of 
the photograph and made delightful American 
remarks about it. By this time it was absolutely 



i 



BAUERN-HAUS AND SCHRIPPEN-FEST 179 

dark, l>ut the powerful acetylene lights of the 
three cars illuminated the scene. The Emperor 
could not tear himself away from the aeroplane, 
the first he had yet seen ; and while he was still 
asking questions I talked with Miss Wright, an 
extremel}' charming woman, who said that this 
was probably her brother's last flight on German 
soil. They had already stayed a day longer 
than intended, so that he might fly before the 
Emperor, before departing for Paris and London 
en route for America. 

For a long time in Germany the air-ships — the 
"Zeppelins" as they are popularly called — occu- 
pied the popular imagination much more than 
the flying-machines with which the Germans have 
recently won such distinction. Once in the earlier 
years of Zeppelin's monster air-craft a message 
came to the court that he was flying from Frank- 
fort to Berlin, which he would reach somewhere 
about five o'clock that afternoon. There was 
the usual hurrying to and fro. The Emperor, 
Empress, Princess and suite hurled themselves 
into motor-cars and hurried towards Berlin, but 
after waiting several hours on the Tempelhofer 
Feld, with nothing to eat and not much to do, 
they returned without a glimpse of any air-ship, 
as the rumours of its coming had been entirely 
unfounded. 

However, later on in the year Zeppelin an- 
nounced his intention to bring his air-ship to 
Berlin. 

On the day fixed all the shops were closed at 
noon, and the whole population turned out and 
walked up and down the street with their eyes 



180 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

fixed heavenwards towards the lovely blue sky, 
for the weather was superb. 

Every lady or gentleman having any connec- 
tion with the court was invited by ticket either 
to the Tempelhofer Feld, at which the air-ship 
was to descend, or to the roof of the Schloss 
itself, as the Zeppelin was to manoeuvre round 
the building. But towards noon, just as all the 
excursion trains from the country had brought 
in the surrounding inhabitants to swell the already 
dense crowd of sky-gazers, a special edition of the 
newspapers was issued announcing an injury to 
the airship which prevented further flight. So 
every one went sadly home again. 

The next day, Sunday, news came that the 
defect had been repaired and that the airship 
with Count Zeppelin on board would appear 
about noon. This change of plan was rather 
inconvenient for several reasons, for there was a 
newly restored church to be dedicated in the 
presence of the Emperor and Empress and the 
chief military authorities. A gentleman in attend- 
ance said that never before had he seen such 
an obviously distracted congregation at any 
church function. The long-drawn-out service, 
the long-winded address (German sermons are of 
the old-fashioned type and usually last at least 
an hour) were listened to with hardly concealed 
impatience and lack of interest ; and the clergy 
themselves seemed to keep one ear turned towards 
that heaven to which they were directing their 
audience, in apprehension of hearing before they 
had finished their discourse that mighty droning 
which would proclaim Zeppelin's arrival. 



BAUERN-HAUS AND SC HRIPPEN-FEST 181 

From the windows of the Schloss, overlooking 
the court-yard, it was usual to see the adjutants 
who had accompanied Mis Majesty descend from 
their cars with dignity — that dignity appropriate 
to a not-too-pronounced embonpoint — salute the 
guard with grave courtesy and deliberation, and 
then retire without undue haste from the public 
view. But on this occasion they tumbled out of 
the cars and rushed up the steps like schoolboys, 
colliding as they ran with the footmen and Bur- 
sclien who came running with their fiat undress 
caps to exchange for the spiked head-gear they 
had worn in church. 

It is a popular myth that the German is phleg- 
matic. He is nothing of the kind. He is extra- 
ordinarily excitable on occasion. He gets out of 
temper, shouts and wrings his hands in moments 
of stress, and sheds tears easily. His feelings are 
on the surface. His military calm is acquired. 
He abandons it and becomes almost hysterical 
when something touches his heart and imagina- 
tion. 

The advent of Zeppelin in his airship was the 
culminating act of a great national triumph. The 
indomitable old man, who had worked so long 
and so pluckily at his herculean task, was at last 
to receive some of the homage due to his tenacity 
and self-sacrifice. So no wonder the people 
thronged the streets and crowded the housetops. 

The fashionable crowd ascended to the roof 
of the Schloss by devious ways, through little 
dark sculleries, up queer steep steps and ladders, 
past funny little apartments smelling strongly 
of cheese and garlic, where the families of some of 



182 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

the servants live tucked away in a corner of the 
big building, out on to the copper-covered roof 
along narrow plank paths, made primarily for the 
use of the sentries who must nightly patrol these 
upper regions. Some of them have inscribed 
verses on the walls, conveying discontent at the 
atmospheric conditions prevailing there on winter 
nights. 

The sky above was gloriously blue, and as far 
as the eye could reach, on every one of the many 
fiat roofs in the vicinity were masses of people 
assembled — not, as is usually the case, a mere 
fringe of daring spirits leaning over the parapet 
to view something below, but crowds spread over 
the whole surface. Each man, woman and child 
held a fluttering flag, which they waved tempestu- 
ously as an outlet for overflowing emotions. One 
could almost see the palpitating heart-beat of 
the nation. 

At last, after an hour or two of waiting, an 
electric thrill ran through the elevated crowd. 
Some one had caught sight of the airship. By 
degrees every one found it — a tiny cigar-shaped 
speck, hardly visible against the deep blue dis- 
tance. A wave of cheering swelled and ebbed 
and died away. The speck grew gradually larger. 
Cheers in the distant part of the city reached 
us in ever-increasing volume. The droning of 
the engines was plainly audible. Presently the 
" dirigible " could be seen over the Brandenburger 
Tor. Still more frantic cheers arose from the 
crowded streets, the packed windows and roofs. 
The great machine swung steadily up Unter den 
Linden and sailed magnificently round and round 



BAUERN-HAUS AND SCHRIPPEN-FEST 188 

the Schloss, while the waves of cheering were 
crested with a white fluttering of handkerchiefs 
hke a storm-tossed sea. Again and again the 
" Zeppehn " made its stately circuit of the 
royal castle, then slowly turned and headed for 
the Tempelhofer Feld, where the Emperor and 
Empress with their family and all the greatest men 
in Germany were waiting to congratulate the 
splendid old veteran. 



CHAPTER X 

ROYAL WEDDINGS 

ROYAL betrothals and weddings have 
within the last few years been of frequent 
occurrence at the Prussian Court. Many 
people seem doubtful as to whether these marriages 
were the result of political arrangement or of the 
mutual attraction which is the chief factor in such 
affairs where humbler folk are concerned. Of 
my own personal knowledge I am able to afhrm 
that politics and worldly considerations have 
had nothing to say in the matter. 

German royalties are peculiarly fortunate in 
having an unusually wide range of choice. The 
Fatherland is rich in numerous prolific princely 
families, quite unremarkable for wealth or extent 
of territory — some indeed are conspicuously 
poverty-stricken — but all of them classed as 
ebenhurtigy that is equal in birth, to royalty, and 
therefore the female members are eligible as 
brides for the occupiers of the most powerful 
thrones. The Empire has long been the happy 
hunting-ground for would-be bridegrooms. 

The first royal Verlobung which took place 
within range of my cognizance was that of the 
young Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, son of 
the Duchess of Albany, who was staying in Berlin 
Schloss at the same time as the two nieces of 

184 



ROYAL WEDDINGS 185 

the Empress, the Princesses Victoria and Alex- 
andra of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-GIucks- 
burg — two bright, pretty, fair-haired girls who had 
come to spend the season at Berlin with their aunt. 

The Princess burst into my sitting-room with 
the news one evening. 

" Dick and Charlie are engaged," she said, 
skipping about all over the room. " Isn't it 
nice ? Just think ! Dick and Charlie ! " 

"Dick" was the pet name of the Princess 
Victoria, the eldest of five sisters. 

I expressed my astonishment and pleasure at 
the news, and the Princess gave me several reasons 
why she was not so surprised as some people, 
although I am convinced that she really had 
known very little beforehand. But at any rate 
she thought it most interesting that they should 
become engaged " in Mamma's sitting-room." 

The following September the Crown Prince 
announced, in a series of laconic telegrams to his 
friends, his own engagement to the young Duchess 
Cecile of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. 

" We are engaged. - William and Cecile," was 
the message sent by the happy Braut-paar. 

The Crown Prince had from early youth been 
frequently in love with various pretty young girls 
within the range of his acquaintanceship. But 
these harmless little love-affairs, so frank, so delight- 
fully obvious, and so soon dispersed into thin air 
by the advent of some new and equally ineligible 
charmer, culminated at last in his meeting with 
the young Duchess Cecile, a dark-eyed, clear- 
complexioned, tall, slim maiden, just out of the 
schoolroom. 



186 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

Any one seeing the happy pair together need 
not have troubled to ask if they were in love 
with each other. It was palpably the case, and 
they had not the least desire to conceal the fact. 
When the young Braut came to stay at the Neues 
Palais after her engagement, a very small party 
— just the ladies-in-waiting and the two young 
Princesses — were dining together in the Apollo- 
Saal, for the Emperor and Empress were absent 
for the day. Suddenly a great clattering was heard 
outside the window overlooking the terrace, and 
the Crown Prince appeared on horseback, having 
ridden up the stone steps. His young Braut 
was charmed at his daring, and they sat down 
at table side by side, obviously absorbed in each 
other, while the ladies talked about the weather 
and tried to be as unobtrusive as possible. They 
were as genuinely and whole-heartedly attracted, 
as palpably all-in-all to each other, as the poorest 
young couple who bravely face the world to- 
gether. Nothing but personal liking entered into 
their marriage. 

It is a pity that people are so sceptical as to 
any royal alliance being founded on any other 
than political considerations. Yet politics are 
rarely either forwarded or hindered nowadays by 
matrimonial arrangements ; and if propinquity, 
as most people believe, is the chief factor in 
bringing about the usual love-affair, then it is 
obviously most natural for a prince to be attracted 
towards the pretty girl — for many princesses are 
remarkably pretty — whom he meets on equal 
terms, with whom there is no consciousness of 
difference of rank, the girl who has been brought 



ROYAL WEDDINGS 187 

up in the same atmosphere as himself, with whom 
familiarity has bred a certain contempt for court 
ceremonies and court traditions, who is related, 
perhaps, like himself, to various crowned heads 
whom they both call " Uncle," one with whom 
he has a common ground of interest, bonds of 
relationship and mutual knowledge. 

As soon as the announcement of this engagement 
became public, the postcard shops of Berlin, 
whose name is legion, became mere picture- 
galleries for the illustration of every possible 
moment of the life and movements of the young 
couple. A whole army of photographers must 
have been employed to lie in wait and photograph 
them under almost every conceivable circumstance 
of their lives. Certainly German royalties are 
very good-natured in this respect. 

First there was the official photograph of the 
Braut-Paar sitting hand-in-hand, as is the ortho- 
dox photographic pose in Germany for all newly 
engaged couples. Then there was a card called 
"The First Congratulations": rows and rows 
of little schoolboys and girls of Schwerin, each 
with a bouquet of wilted flowers in the hand, and 
the girls with wreaths entwined in their hair, 
presented in turn their offerings to the smiling 
young Duchess, while the Crown Prince stood by, 
helping things along to the best of his ability. 
" The First Drive" pictured them both in a sort 
of dog-cart, duly chaperoned, taking the air 
together, and there were dozens more cards por- 
traying them at tennis, drinking tea in the garden, 
or nursing the dogs. One felt that one knew how 
every moment of their time was employed. 



188 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

Although they were engaged in the month of 
September, their marriage did not take place until 
the beginning of the following June. Ordinary 
weddings usually mean a time of considerable 
stress to every one concerned, but they are epochs 
of honeyed leisure as compared with the multiple 
ceremonies attendant on royal functions of the 
same kind. 

For weeks beforehand no one dared to let 
their thoughts wander from the impending event. 
A few days before the State entry of the bride 
into the town, we all had to leave the New Palace 
and migrate to Berlin. 

A State entry means, for the bride, not only 
an entry in State carriages but in State attire, 
wearing semi-evening dress and a long train. 

The day before it took place the bride arrived 
with her mother, the Duchess Anastasia, and 
took up her residence for the night in Belle Vue, 
which was outside the city boundary. The next 
day, which turned out remarkably hot, almost 
too hot to be agreeable, all Berlin was astir early, 
and the streets were lavishly bewreathed and 
befiagged. Along the route large wooden stands 
had been erected, for as far as the populace is 
concerned the entry is the only part of the State 
ceremony which they can enjoy, as the wedding 
itself takes place privately in the Chapel of the 
Schloss. 

So the good people of Berlin are astir betimes, 
and take their places along the Tier-Garten, or 
as near as they can to the Brandenburger-Tor, at 
a very early hour, quite regardless of the fact 
that the procession will not start before three. 



ROYAL WEDDINGS 189 

But they know there will be plenty to be seen. 
Ro^al carriages carrying notable personalities 
will pass to and fro, and the Emperor and Empress, 
the " little Princess " and her brothers, will doubt- 
less be in evidence. So they stand from hour 
to hour waiting patiently in the heat. In the 
stables great activity prevails. The eight fine 
black horses which draw the bride's State carriage 
have been daily exercised together, wearing the 
heavy red brass-studded harness. The coach itself 
is made almost entirely of glass in the upper panels, 
and is most beautifully painted and decorated. 
Three gorgeously-clad footmen cling behind it, 
and two equally gorgeous pages hold a seemingly 
precarious and uncomfortable footing behind the 
coachman's box, crowded up between it and the 
curvature of the coach itself in a very complicated 
and mysterious manner. The ponderous vehicle 
swings heavily from side to side, and has a peculiar 
cross-Channel motion. 

Its progress down towards Belle Vue is watched 
by crowds of delighted spectators. The sight of 
its eight slowly-pacing horses, each wearing 
wonderful plumes of ostrich feathers, and led at 
a foot's pace by grooms in red coats encrusted 
with gold lace, fill the crowd with joyful ecstasy. 
They forget the heat and thirst and the long hours 
they have already waited. 

AH the master-butchers of Berlin are very active 
and not a little apprehensive, for it is an old- 
established privilege of their guild to ride, in top- 
hats and frock-coats, at the head of the bride's 
procession, and they are divided between the fear- 
ful joy and doubtful pleasure of the enterprise. 



190 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

They have been dihgently pursuing equestrian 
exercise for the last few weeks. Many who never 
made acquaintance with a saddle before — except 
in the form of mutton — have been learning, at 
the nearest "Tattersall," some of the elementary 
mysteries of horsemanship. Quiet, staid horses 
of mature years have suddenly risen in price, and 
horse-dealers have reaped a rich harvest from 
certain ancient but good-looking crocks which 
know how to walk with an air of magnificence. 

All these black-coated gentry assemble at the 
entrance to Belle Vue. They are in the happy 
position of seeing to advantage all that goes on. 
They may not look quite as smart as the mounted 
Uhlans of the escort, but they add a quaint, 
homely German touch to the picture which is 
very agreeable. 

Only State carriages are allowed to drive, as 
they do on this occasion, along the gravelled centre 
of the avenue of lime-trees on Unter den Linden 
All the Stall-Meisters, Sattel-Meisters, Wagen- 
Meisters and other stable functionaries are 
assembled in Belle Vue Garden, while the Master 
of the Horse in his plumed cocked hat, casts an 
eye over the horses and hopes that those well- 
trained quadrupeds will not be stirred out of their 
usual calm by the unaccustomed character of 
the day's proceedings. 

From the Schloss there is an excellent view of 
the long procession as it at last comes slowly up 
the Linden. It stops at the Brandenburger Tor, 
where the Biirger-Meister — the Lord Mayor of 
Berlin — has the pleasing duty of making a speech 
of welcome to the bride, who is expected to make 




y. 



■^ T. 



ROYAL WEDDINGS 101 

a short speech in reply. A bouquet is also pre- 
sented by one of a gakbxy of palpitating white- 
clad maidens, and, headed by the black-coated 
butchers, amid the lluttering pennons of the Uhlans 
the big coach swings slowly on its way, the bride 
smiling and bowing incessantly. Never was anyone 
more joyously responsive than the future Crown- 
Princess, who possesses in a high degree that 
capacity for appearing pleased and amused which 
is so invaluable to royalties. She probably does 
not know how to look bored. The world is to 
her an intensely amusing, interesting place. That 
day she drove triumphantly into the hearts of 
the people, where she has remained enthroned 
ever since— a stimulating, charming presence. 

Besides the bride, the coach contained the 
Empress and the Mistress of the Robes, and when 
it turned at last from the shouting, waving popu- 
lace into the court-yard of the Schloss, the butchers 
having previously ridden in at one gate and out 
again at the other, the Emperor, who had driven 
up earlier from Belle Vue, was standing at the 
entrance to welcome his future daughter-in-law, 
while the bridegroom waited at the head of his 
regiment, which formed the guard of honour for 
the occasion. 

The wedding itself took place three days later, 
at five o'clock in the afternoon. Those people 
who were not invited to be present at the wedding 
ceremony in the chapel itself received invitations 
to the Bilder Galerie or Picture Gallery, through 
which the wedding procession must pass. 

It is a very mixed assembly, for all having any 
connection with the bride or bridegroom, pro- 



192 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

fessors, school friends, teachers, footmen or their 
famiUes, fellow students, all receive tickets. They 
must appear in evening dress, and some very 
strange costumes are seen among the ladies. One 
I remember, an obviously home-made and in- 
artistic affair, was trimmed with real water-lilies 
which in the heat had turned a dismal brown, 
and long before the procession drew near were 
depressingly dying on the ample bosom of the 
lady who wore them. Everybody had to stand 
all the time, and footmen holding scarlet cords 
kept back the crowd as well as they could from 
encroaching on the space left in the centre. There 
was a much better view here of the procession 
than in the chapel itself, especially for the front 
rank of spectators, among whom I was luckily 
placed. In the second row was a very stout 
woman, who leaned frankly upon me for support, 
and tried unblushingly but unsuccessfully to push 
her way to the front. When frustrated in this 
manoeuvre she complained loudly of my dis- 
obligingness, and said that she had received her 
entrance card from an Ober-Kastellan, and that 
she could not understand how I could therefore 
expect her to remain in the second row. I had 
to lean back on to her to prevent myself being 
pushed on to the red carpet, and she again became 
tearfully indignant, not to say unpleasant ; but 
fortunately the procession began to arrive and 
saved any further trouble. 

It was headed by two heralds in tabards, and 
by twelve pages in red, and then came the bride 
in a dress of silver tissue led by the bridegroom in 
uniform. She had on her head the small jewelled 



ROYAL WEDDINGS 198 

crown which every Prussian bride wears on her 
wedding day, and her train was carried by four 
young ladies. The Empress followed with the 
bride's brother, the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg- 
Schwerin, and the Emperor with the bride's mother, 
the Grand Duchess Anastasia. They were followed 
by a crowd of other royalties walking, as is the 
custom, hand-in-hand, sometimes one Prince con- 
ducting two Princesses, or one Princess being con- 
ducted by two Princes. They all looked very much 
amused at themselves, and those who happened to 
know me grinned delightedly and nodded as they 
passed. Prince Arthur of Connaught was there, and 
the very tall Duchess of Aosta, who walked with 
a tiny little Japanese gentleman. The Princess, 
who walked with Prince J oacliim, made very friendly 
demonstrations as she went by, and choked with 
laughter when I responded by a very deep curtsy. 

When the last of the procession had vanished we 
were all driven out at once, and an army of house- 
maids with brooms entered and began to sweep 
up the dirt and litter which the people had left 
behind. It was strange that on the most cere- 
monious occasions, when people were waiting 
round red carpets to welcome royal guests, or 
ambassadors weighed down with state secrets 
were on the point of getting into their carriages 
after audiences with the Emperor, always a print- 
gowned housemaid with a broom made a jarring 
appearance, wielding her implement coolly in the 
midst of state functionaries as though sweep- 
ing were the most important business of life. 
Sometimes she had scarcely disappeared before 
royalty itself emerged. 

13 



194 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

The Lutheran wedding-service is very simple. 
It begins with the long address of the clergyman 
to the bridal couple, admonishing them as to their 
duties to each other and the world at large. As 
everybody stands the whole time— for no chairs 
are admitted into the chapel, excepting one or 
two for specially exalted guests — this address is 
apt to appear longer than it really is. Each lady 
is in Court dress, wearing the regulation veil and 
long, heavy train which she must hold on her arm 
during the service, as it is not to be displayed 
until the Defdir-Cour which follows immediately 
afterwards. From the chapel the newly- married 
pair walk into the adjacent Weisser-Saal, where 
with the Emperor and Empress they stand to 
receive the congratulations of the invited guests, 
who pass quickly before them bowing, the ladies 
with their trains spread out. When the bride 
and bridegroom have made several hundred bows 
and the Cour is at an end, an adjournment is 
made to dinner, which is laid in several different 
rooms at small round tables, excepting the one 
where the royalties sit, which is fairly large. Here 
more quaint ceremonies take place. The Prince 
Fiirstenberg as Marshal of the Court serves the 
Emperor with soup, and the other royal guests are 
also waited on by pages and gentlemen of birth, 
who take the dishes from the footmen. The Lord- 
High-Steward or Truchsess pours out the wine, 
and in the middle of the dinner the Emperor 
proposes the health of the newly married pair. 

The dinner, in spite of the attendant ceremonies, 
is not allowed to be too prolonged, for the great 
climax of these stately formalities still remains to 



ROYAL WEDDINGS 195 

be performed the most beautiful, but perhaps for 
the hard-worked bridal pair also the most tiring 
of all — the famous Torch Dance, seen nowhere 
but at the Prussian Court, and when once seen, 
never to be forgotten. 

The wedding procession returns to the beautiful 
Weisscr Saul, where a regimental band, usually 
that of the Garde du Corps, is stationed in the 
gallery. Here, at a signal from an official, the 
music begins : slow stately marches are played, old- 
world tunes that seem an echo of past times. The 
ro^al ladies are all seated with their parti-coloured 
trains, which seem somehow to be the chief feature 
of all state functions, spread out in front of them — 
while rows of red-clad pages stand behind their 
chairs waiting to advance when the time arrives. 

From the side entrance of the Saal, stepping 
in time to the music, enters the Marshal of the 
Court carrying his wand of office, preceding a 
double row of twenty-four pages who bear large 
torches. In stately rhythm they move once round 
the room, when the Marshal stops, and bows to 
the bride and bridegroom, who at once descend 
from the slightly-raised platform where they sit, 
and hand-in-hand, preceded by the torch-bearers, 
with four ladies carrying the bride's train, the 
group moves round the Hall in time to the music. 
I have seen this ceremony four times, at as many 
royal weddings, and cannot express its wonderful 
fascination, its mixture of poetry and romance, 
its glamour of colour, its irresistible charm to the 
beholder. There is the lulling monotony of 
sound, the flicker and smoke of the torches, the 
brilliant blending of many tones, the dignified 



196 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

movement of the dancers, the crowd of seated 
royalties opposite the standing crowd of courtiers. 
It takes on something of the aspect of a fairy 
tale, is reminiscent of "Cinderella" or of a half- 
forgotten ballad of bygone days. 

The bride and bridegroom having made their 
tour of the room once alone, return and separate, 
the bride now taking out the Emperor and her 
own nearest male relative, while the bridegroom 
leads out his mother and that of the bride, and 
they again march slowly round the room. All the 
ladies' trains, excepting those of the bride and 
the Empress, are carried by four pages, the two 
exceptions by four ladies who themselves wear 
trains. And so round after round bride and 
bridegroom return and hand out the rest of the 
Princes and Princesses in turn. 

In order to hasten matters, towards the end three 
or four of the younger ones are linked together on 
either hand, and a chain of happy, smiling youth 
treads the last stately measure round the Hall. 

The Torch Dance finishes, and the torch-bearers 
wend their way out, followed by the long glitter- 
ing procession, away to the private apartments. 
The ceremonies are at an end. It is nine o'clock, 
and presently, if you listen, you may hear the 
cheers of the people in the street greeting the 
bridal couple as they drive quickly through the 
summer darkness on their way to the station. 

After they are gone, there remains only one small 
ceremony, which is often very unceremonious — the 
scramble of the courtiers for the so-called Garter 
of the Bride. Hundreds of pieces of white satin 
ribbon marked with her cipher are distributed 



ROYAL WEDDINGS 197 

by the .Mistress of the Ceremonies, and for a few 
moments pandemonium seems to reign. At the 
hist wedding 1 was flung bodily into the arms 
of a Kammcr-Herr, a gold-laced official of great 
dignity ; and some of the royalties returning to 
their apartments were plunged into the vortex 
of the struggle and severely hustled and pushed 
about before a passage could be made for them. 
The distributing lady was then kindly but firmly 
requested to pursue her avocations in a side 
corridor farther away. 

The wedding of the Emperor's second son. 
Prince Fritz, to the Duchess Sophie Charlotte of 
Oldenburg took place in February, on the same 
day as the celebration of the Silver Wedding of 
Their Majesties, who on this occasion walked hand 
in hand in the bridal procession, the Empress 
wearing a wreath of silver myrtle as well as a 
beautiful diamond tiara given to her by her 
husband. 

This Silver Wedding was, of course, the occasion 
of many spontaneous tributes of affection towards 
Their ^lajesties ; and the Court Chaplain — he who 
attempted to guide our Christmas carols — being 
an indefatigable man, had determined that this 
notable day ought to be ushered in by an auhade, 
an early- morning song, to be performed by the 
Court ladies and gentlemen outside the bedroom 
door of the Emperor and Empress. It was to 
be sacred in character ; but, instead of taking 
some old-established favourite', he was moved to 
ask a musical friend to write something special to 
fit the occasion. Like most " specially-written " 
melodies, it was rather uninspired, but by dint 



198 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

of constant practice at most inconvenient times 
we got a more or less hazy idea of it, and hoped 
that it would make a deep impression. 

I think we were all a little resentful at having 
to rise so early on what we knew would be a long, 
fatiguing day. The poor Court Chaplain, who had 
to come over from Potsdam, must have started 
in the chilly darkness of the winter morning. I 
myself, unaccustomed to rising quite so early, 
fell asleep again after being awakened, and had 
to dress in feverish haste and rush downstairs 
without any breakfast. We were gathered, a 
group of rather sleepy, not conspicuously good- 
tempered people, at the entrance to the narrow 
corridor leading to the private apartments, where 
we waited an unconscionable time, growing every 
moment more nervous, and studying the little ill- 
written scraps of music-paper on which we had 
jotted down, somewhat undecipherably, our several 
parts. Everybody inquired of his neighbour 
what we were waiting for, but no one seemed to 
know, excepting the leading soprano, who frowned 
angrily when we whispered and put her finger 
reprovingly on her lips. 

We were obviously much in the way of certain 
Jagers and footmen, who were passing up and 
down with garments and boots ; and at last some 
of us grew restive and threatened to depart. 

At that moment a Jager, who had cast disap- 
proving glances at us as he passed to and fro, 
came and told us that His Majesty had left his 
room and was not likely to return, whereupon we 
felt much disappointment, but subsequently con- 
gratulated ourselves on the happy chance that 



ROYAL WEDDINGS 199 

had led the Emperor away for our attempt at 
harmony turned out a most dismal failure, owing 
to the chief soprano getting nervous and starting 
on an absolutely false note. No less than three 
beginnings were necessary before we got really 
" off," and the suppressed titterings of the bride- 
groom. Prince Fritz, who had joined his mother, 
were plainly audible. Happily we finished better 
than we began — which is not saying much — and 
the Empress thanked us in her usual pleasant, 
kindly manner, and then hurried off after the 
Emperor to breakfast. It was rather hard on the 
poor Court Chaplain, who had risen early and 
taken so much trouble to reap so little satisfaction ; 
and when I found on return to my own room 
that my breakfast (which I had not touched) 
had been taken away and eaten by the woman 
who waited on me, I felt that the day had not 
begun as auspiciously as might have been wished. 

The Crown Prince and Princess after their 
marriage lived at the M armor Palais, and here all 
their children were born. The arrival of their 
first little boy, Prince Wilhelm, was an exciting 
day for the whole of Germany. The great event 
happened about eight o'clock one morning, and 
by eleven picture-postcards were on sale in which 
the Crown Princess, naively represented in evening 
dress, was depicted holding in her arms one of 
those dreadful abominations called a Steck-Kissen , 
a sort of flat pillow much used in the Fatherland, 
on which was fastened with blue ribbons, something 
in the manner habitual among Indian squaws, a 
solid-looking infant purporting to be the newly- 
born Prince. 



200 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

This same child on the same blue-ribboned 
Steck-Kissen was also represented on another 
postcard lying on the knees of the Emperor, who 
was smiling into the middle-distance. It bore 
the inscription "The First Grandchild" ; but as 
His Majesty was at the time cruising off Kiel in 
the Hohenzollern, he never saw his first grand- 
child until six weeks after it was born. But manu- 
facturers are not disturbed by minor details of 
this nature, and the cards, however unveracious, 
doubtless supplied a popular demand. 

Later on the Emperor mentioned at table that, 
owing to the forgetfulness of the young officer 
charged with the forwarding on board of his mails, 
the telegrams informing him of the happy event 
did not reach him for a good many hours after 
they arrived in Kiel ; and it was from a congratu- 
latory message handed on board from the Sultan 
of Turkey that His Majesty first heard that he 
was a grandfather. 

The fact that the Empress was a grandmother 
and she herself an aunt made the Princess very 
thoughtful for a time. She indulged for some 
time in long fits of silence, pondering this new 
development. A few days after her nephew 
came into the world, as we were driving in the 
Wildpark together, she remarked with a certain 
wistful wonder, " This time last week I was not 
yet an aunt, and Mamma was not a grandmother. 
Poor Mamma ! " 

The christening was of great interest to her, 
because the youngest Hohenzollern Princess is 
always chosen to carry the infant to the font. 
She practised this ceremony a few times with a 



ROYAL WEDDINGS 201 

cushion, to which was pinned a long table-cloth 
to represent tlu^ wliite satin train which babes 
of (he Hohenzollern race wear at the ceremony. 
This train is embroidered with the name of every 
prince or princess who has worn it ; and a new 
strip has to be added for every christening, so that 
the imagination refuses to consider the length to 
which it must inevitably extend in the course 
of ages. It is carried by four ladies of noble 
birth, and is actually fastened, not to the infant 
itself, but to the white satin cushion on which 
the child is laid. 

Royal christenings are usually celebrated in 
the long Jasper Gallery in the New Palace, a 
magniticent apartment which, owing to its length, 
was the favourite scene of indoor sports for the Prin- 
cess and her friends when wet weather prevented 
their indulgence outside. Only the week after 
the christening sack-races were held in the stately 
apartment, and the mirrors which had lately 
reflected the stately tread, the brilliant uniforms, 
and the trailing dresses of courtiers, now duplicated 
and reduplicated a seemingly endless procession 
of wildly-hopping maidens with jerking pigtails, 
who, shrieking with laughter and accompanied by 
many tumbles, bumped along over the marble 
pavement to the goal. The seventy-five Stijts- 
Kinder had been invited to the palace ; but 
the afternoon turned out hopelessly wet, so 
that the "Gymkhana" which had been planned 
had necessarily to take place indoors or not at 
all, and the Jasper Gallery proved itself an excel- 
lent place for egg-and-spoon races as well as for 
the needle-threading and bun-eating competitions. 



202 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

A few rooms near the Gallery had been once 
occupied by Frederick the Great. One of them 
still contained his harpsichord, and in another, 
row upon row, were left the books he loved - all 
in French, not a single German one amongst them. 
Sometimes the children would storm violently 
through these older rooms, where all was left as 
much as possible undisturbed, just as they had 
been when used by Frederick. They wakened up 
for a few moments the sleepy, stifled atmosphere 
of the shut-up apartments, the faded green silk 
curtains waved and trembled as they passed 
boisterously onward ; once I saw the yellow 
parchment label bearing the old King's hand- 
writing drop from the back of a book in the glass 
case, shaken from its timid, precarious hold by 
the rush of active young feet. They were eerie 
places, where one did not care to linger long 
alone when the shadows of night were falling. It 
was so easy to imagine a bent old figure, in a 
crushed-looking cocked hat, in rusty knee-boots, 
in a blue-lapelled riding-coat, peering round the 
corner to see who was disturbing the silences, 
watching the flight of that impetuous child of 
his house as her laugh echoed back towards the 
deserted rooms where the air had for a moment 
been startled into movement by the tones of 
her gay voice and the sound of her footsteps on 
the polished floor. 



CHAPTER Xr 

WILHELMSHOHE 

^ M ^ ilE most agreeably situated of all the 
I various dwelling-places occupied in the 

-*- course of the year by the Emperor William 
and his family is without doubt the splendid palace 
of Wilhelmsholic, standing on the hillside amid 
beautifully wooded scenery within two miles of 
the town of Cassel, which can be seen from its 
upper windows, sheltered snugly in a long depres- 
sion of hills, its red roofs lying warm across the 
soft blueness of the distant mountains behind. 

The Court stays here every year during August, 
when the damp heat of the New Palace, which 
lies so low, becomes too suffocatingly unbearable. 
The Emperor in Wilhelmshohe changes his uni- 
form every afternoon for an ordinary flannel or 
tweed suit, and wearing a Panama hat, tramps 
energetically among the woods and hills, working 
off a little of the adipose tissue which, in spite 
of his activities, has in the last year or two made 
some slight encroachment on his straight, lithe 
figure. He has a horror of growing stout, and 
keeps the enemy at bay with characteristic per- 
tinacity. 

Once at a fancy-dress ball given by Prince 
Adalbert, his sailor-son at Kiel, the Emperor came 
to it, unknown to the guests, wearing the dress of 

203 



204 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

his own ancestor the Great Elector, a full-bottomed 
flowing wig and the long coat and breeches appro- 
priate to the period. During the first part of the 
ball the dancers were masked, and the Emperor 
was talking with a lady who, believing him to be 
the Crown Prince, whom she knew very well, said 
to him archly : 

" Your Imperial Highness is splendidly dis- 
guised. How did you make yourself appear so 
stout ? A little cushion stuffed inside somewhere, 
I suppose ? " 

His Majesty told this story against himself 
several times, especially when the lady, who 
previous to her marriage was attached to the 
service of the Empress, happened to be present. 
He would roll his eyes in pretended anger while 
he said : 

"Of course there was no cushion -there was 
only me ; but I believe she said it on purpose. 
She knew who it was all the time." 

It was a toilsome business to tramp so many 
miles in the hot sun, and though the Empress 
herself was at that time a good walker, she had 
hard work to keep up with her energetic husband, 
while the Princess frankly confessed that she was 
half dead after one of "Papa's" brisk constitu- 
tionals. Elderly Germans, especially at Court, 
do not walk much habitually. They occasionally 
take exercise of the kind as a "cure," making 
it into something of a solemn, ponderous rite, 
strolhng along under the forest trees hat in hand, 
with frequent pauses to look at the scenery ; but 
this is not what the Emperor understands by 
walking. 



WILHFXMSHOHE 205 

Every Sunday morning tho ladies and gentlemen 
of the suite used to assemble before church time 
on the terrace opposite the great statue (copied 
from the Farnese Hercules) which stands away 
at the top of the hill crowning the artificial rock 
terraces, caves and cascades made by a former 
l.andgraf of Hesse-Cassel. This statue is so 
large that a man can stand inside the club upon 
which Hercules leans. The weather was always 
judged (or misjudged) according to whether 
Hcrktdes loomed near or retired into the back- 
ground. After standing a little, and chatting in 
the usual desultory way of people who meet often 
and rarely have new experiences to confide, the 
Empress and Princess would appear, followed by 
the Emperor. 

On my first visit to Wilhelmshohe, as we wended 
our way to the little chapel in one wing of the 
Palace, the Emperor said that he hoped I would 
" sing in a loud, deep voice" in church, because 
the singing was usually very bad. I commented 
on the slowness of German hymn-singing, and His 
Majesty told me how surprised he was once, when 
visiting at Windsor " with Grandmamma" a year 
or two before she died, to hear the organ burst 
out suddenly into the Austrian National Anthem, 
not knowing that it had been adopted as an English 
hymn- tune. 

The way to the chapel was through a long 
matted corridor hung with queer old-fashioned 
paintings of distorted-looking animals. 

Just before the door of the royal pew hung on 
each side of the wall two pictures of ferocious 
cows whose eyes followed with a threatening glare 



206 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 



as people went in or out of chapel. Underneath 
the cows was placed the alms-dish for the con- 
tributions of Their Majesties and the Court. 

The Emperor and Empress occupied two special 
gilt and red-velvet chairs, and the Court ordinary 
cane-bottomed ones — also gilt — which made a 
great scraping on the floor as we rose to pray or 
sat down to sing according to the usual German 
custom. 

The congregation consisted chiefly of a few 
officers and foresters with their wives and children, 
and a well-meaning choir sang timidly in the 
gallery up above. 

The dining-room and neighbouring salons in 
Wilhelmshohe were beautifully furnished in Em- 
pire style and in late Louis Quinze. The fine view 
from the windows, away over the undulating hills 
beyond Cassel, helped to beguile the rather 
wearisome standing about and half-hearted after- 
dinner conversation. One of the old generals who 
wanted to improve his English always came 
ponderously in my direction if he saw me glancing 
at some of the English fashion-papers lying on 
the table, as he declared himself deeply interested 
in " ladies' toilettes." I was always rather appre- 
hensive when he turned over the leaves, looking 
at them carefully through his eyeglass, and when 
he got to the hair " transformations " usually 
thought it best to retire before he reached pages 
of a still more intimate nature. 

Jerome Bonaparte inhabited Wilhelmshohe for 
seven years when he was King of Westphalia, and 
introduced all the Empire sofas and chairs. The 
salon of the Princess was a delightful room with 



WILIIELMSIIOIIE 207 

a parquet floor, panelled and painted white, and 
the mahogany furniture was upholstered in a 
most beautiful tone of striped yellow satin. 
Leading from it was the breakfast-room, with 
striped red-satin wall-coverings hung with pic- 
tures of the children of the House of Hesse- 
Cassel, to whom the Schloss belonged before 
they lost it by hghting against Prussia in 
the war of 1866. These unfortunate infants of 
two or tliree years were dressed in stuffy, heavy, 
thickly-embroidered garments of black and red 
\elvet, and wore stiflly-starched, scratchy-looking 
ruffs round their poor little chubby necks. 

In Wilhelmshohe Schloss Napoleon III. was 
lodged after being taken prisoner by the Germans, 
in the Empress's sitting-room is the writing-table 
he used, with the hole burnt in it where he always 
laid his cigar. 

Not far from Wilhelmshohe, just a pleasant 
drive of an hour or so, past yellowing cornfields, 
under rows of apple and cherry trees, lay Wilhelms- 
thal, a charming country-house lying in a tiny 
hamlet far from a railway station, also built by 
an Elector of Hesse and inhabited by the before- 
mentioned King Jerome. This delightful little 
summer Schloss has hardly been touched in its 
arrangements since the great Napoleon's brother 
left it. All the beds remain with the Erench eagle 
spreading its wings above the green silk curtains ; 
the Dresden china figures he looked at every day 
still occupy their places on the shelves ; the 
china timepiece that struck the hour yet stands 
beside liis bed, though it has long ago ceased to 
measure time. The tourist can lean out of the 



208 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

windows of his bedroom and see the carp, de- 
scendants of those he used to feed, or perhaps the 
very same fish, swimming about in the pond a 
httle distance away. It is a place where time 
seems to have stood still for the last hundred 
years. 

The Emperor in Wilhelmshohe liked to ride at 
about seven o'clock in the morning, while it was 
still comparatively cool. He was almost invari- 
ably accompanied by the Empress, as well as by 
any other members of his family who happened 
to be staying at the castle. 

It was a pretty sight to watch the procession 
of horses coming two by two from the stables 
across the road, each horse led by a groom, while 
two Sattel Meisfers in cocked hats and much 
embroidered uniforms walked behind them, all 
being under the command of two officers, the 
Emperor's Leih-Stall-M eister and that of the 
Empress. 

A former Master of the Horse to His Majesty, 
Baron von Holzing-Berstett, was one of the judges 
at the International Horse Show at Olympia a 
few years ago. 

All the tourists from the hotel opposite used 
to assemble outside the Schloss gates, under the 
stern control of two gendarmes, who kept them 
penned on one side of the road. 

The horses were halted in the shadow near the 
big pillared portico of the Schloss, and as soon 
as the attendant gentlemen and ladies emerged, 
were brought up and walked round the terrace 
by the grooms till a start was made. As a rule 
the Emperor and Empress were very punctual, 



WILHELMSHOHE 209 

and nothing annoyed His Majesty more than to 
be kept waiting. A lady always rode in attend- 
ance on the Empress, but as one of those who 
could ride — only two out of the four were able 
to do so — was usually absent on her holidays at 
this time, I often was called upon to supply the 
place of the absent Hof-Dame. The Princess, when 
her lessons began again, had to ride at five in the 
evening instead of seven, so I very frequently 
managed two rides a day, and even sometimes 
three. Often I was summoned in the early 
morning from my repose by a breathless footman. 
" Will gnddiges Frdulcin please get up at once 
to ride with Her Majesty ? The Countess has a 
cold. In five minutes the horses will be round." 
So that I became an expert in quick dressing, 
and generally managed to be ready in time. 

The Emperor's suite was always fairly large, 
and as each of his sons when he accompanied his 
father had also his attendant gentleman, often 
consisted of sixteen or seventeen persons, without 
counting the officials and grooms. 

His Majesty in Wilhelmshohe nearly always 
wore the comfortable green Jager uniform in 
which to ride, whereas in Neues Palais he almost 
invariabl}' rode in Hussar uniform. We usually 
moved off from the Terrace in three or four rows, 
one behind the other, and the clatter of hoofs 
was like that of a troop of cavalry. The morning 
air from the mountains came in gusts fresh and 
sparkling like wine. As soon as His Majesty 
appeared round the curve of the drive, the 
sentry flung open the little iron gate leading 
on to the road, and the rows of people outside 

14 



210 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER^S COURT 

immediately produced and waved their clean 
pocket-handkerchiefs, which at once aroused appre- 
hensions in the breast of the timid equestrian 
somewhat doubtful of his own powers. The 
horses of the Emperor and Empress were, of 
course, specially trained to ignore these loyal 
demonstrations, but those of the suite, especially 
if newly introduced into the stable, sometimes 
exhibited symptoms of surprise. 

Practically only one good riding road exists 
in the neighbourhood of Wilhelmshohe, but this 
is a very delightful one, through the lovely wooded 
grounds outside the park up into the forest on 
the mountain slopes, and then across a beautiful 
stretch of grass along the brow of the hills with 
a wide view on all sides. As soon as they reached 
the softer ground in the forest the Emperor and 
Empress would start off at a brisk stretching 
canter, followed by the rest of the party. After 
a night's rain it was not agreeable to ride in the 
second and third row, for the dirt cast up by the 
horses' hoofs was rather adhesive, not like the 
hard clean sand of Potsdam, which fell off again 
as soon as dry. For several miles the canter would 
be kept up, and then the horses were breathed a 
little and trotted homewards again. Very often 
the Empress finished her ride at the big statue 
of Hercules, where carriages were waiting and 
grooms to take the horses home. 

One day the Princess had ridden alone with me, 
and we were returning from the "Hercules" 
together in an automobile. The road down the 
steep hillside towards the castle is cut in a series 
of zigzags with very sharp turns, and at the first of 



WILIIELMSIIOIIE 211 

tliese, the chauffeur failing to turn early enough, 
the car as nearly as possible toppled over the edge, 
its front wheels being just on the verge when he 
was able to stop. Another inch would have sent it 
over, crashing down among the trees. The Princess 
said afterwards that it was " a thrilling moment," 
and 1 agreed that it was one of those deeply 
interesting intervals of time which make one feel 
keenly alive. She did not move or say a word 
as we hung, but gripped her riding-whip rather 
hard, and only when the big car slowly backed 
and turned into a safer position gave a long deep 
sigh of relief. She rather enjoyed novel sensa- 
tions, and especially gloried in the description of 
her own emotions at the critical moment. Like 
the fat boy in "Pickwick" she wanted to make 
" your blood run cold" with the narration of 
hairbreadth escapes and dangerous situations. 

When the afternoons were too hot to walk, Plis 
Maj esty almost invariably played lawn-tennis. Grass 
courts are non-existent in Germany at least they 
are used only by those people who do not take lawn- 
tennis seriously ; and all good courts are made of a 
kind of concrete first used at Homburg, the com- 
position of which is supposed to be a secret. It 
is an excellent preparation, possessing a certain 
elasticity approximating to turf, and has the ad 
vantage of drying quickly. Even if turf lawns could 
be grown as they are in England — and I have never 
met with any that remotely resembled their close, 
line texture — the heavy thunderstorms which pre- 
vail in that district during the hot weather would 
frequently make it impossible to use them. 

His Majesty plays lawn-tennis in rather crude- 



212 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

looking shirts and ties, and usually wears a Panama 
hat. Unlike most men, he looks perhaps less well in 
such a "get-up" than in an}- thing else. Young 
officers from the neighbouring barracks are often 
sent for to join in a set, and the Ober-Gouvernante , 
who was an expert player, often had to upset 
all her arrangements for the afternoon on being 
requested to pla}^ with His Majesty. As the Princess 
grew older she became quite a respectable player, 
and all the young Princes, especially the Crown 
Prince and Prince Adalbert, were good at the 
game, which is exceedingly popular in Germany. 

In the evenings, when it grew rather cooler, a 
picnic supper was often eaten in some spot among 
the hills. Sometimes we drove there in carriages, 
and it was the pride of the Master of the Horse 
to turn out four or five four-in-hands, which made 
a great sensation among the tourists as they 
emerged from the gates of the Schloss. 

The Royal Stables possessed some very fine 
black Mecklenburg horses which were used on 
these occasions, but the all-conquering automobile 
has lately been preferred by His Majesty, who 
likes to get quickly over the ground, and also to 
go farther afield than horses can take him. 

Those suppers in the hills were very amusing, 
especially if, as often happened, the Emperor 
decided that he and the Empress should do some 
of the cooking. In spite of all assertions to the 
contrary, the Empress knows nothing whatever 
about cooking, although a good part of the 
civilized world pictures her as daily bending 
over saucepans and mixing ingredients for pud- 
dings. The nearest approach to the culinary art 



VVILIIELMSHOHE 213 

which she has ever practised was dexterously 
" tossing " a pancake, which she did very neatly, 
and was exceedingly gratified by the applause of 
the surrounding ladies, one of whom dropped hers 
on to the ground. It happened, of course, at one 
of these picnics, which are accompanied by port- 
able stoves and sc\cral cooks with the necessary 
implements and materials of their trade. Some 
of the gentlemen of the suite, those imbued with 
the old Prussian spirit of economy which believes 
in limiting avenues of expenditure, often expressed 
impatience and disapproval of these suppers. 

" Now look ! " said one of them to me : " there 
are four carts for the kitchens alone — horses, 
coachmen, grooms ; think of the work all this 
has caused these poor cooks " — he glanced at 
four white-clad individuals who were peaceably 
pursuing their avocations under the shade of a 
tree, and appeared to be quite as happy as the 
rest of us. 

" I think they really enjoy it," I said deprecat- 
ingly ; " of course it is a trouble — picnics usually 
are ; but there are plenty of horses in the stables — 
they may as well come out here as not." 

He shook his head and sighed. 

" Ah, it is a different spirit," he said sadly. 
" My father used to tell me how simply the Old 
Emperor \\'illiam hved. Never took more than 
one adjutant with him, not this crowd " — and 
he waved his hand at the row of gentlemen w^hose 
gaze was concentrated on the Emperor engaged 
in concocting some kind of a strawberry Bowie. 
" Never used more than one carriage if he could 
help it, at most two. Look at that procession " — 



214 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 



and his gaze wandered dubiously to the long line 
of vehicles which stood in the shade a little way 
down the hill. We could hear the clink of bits 
and the stamp of the waiting horses. 

" The Old Emperor William," I ventured, " was 
King of Prussia for a good while before he became 
German Emperor ; he could not change his habits 
later on. Besides, everybody lives more extrava- 
gantly now ; even the working classes " 

He groaned and shook his head, and murmured 
something which sounded disapproving and pro- 
phetic of disaster. 

One day at dinner in Wilhelmshohe one of the 
guests was a water-finder, and when, as usual, we 
all went out on the terrace, he produced his rod, 
a ramshackle affair like a piece of iron wire, and 
we were all invited to try our skill. Many of 
the gentlemen were frankly sceptical, and the only 
one of them with whom the rod made any definite 
movement was the worst unbeliever of them all. 

The Emperor was very annoyed at their unbelief, 
and said that he was going to send the gentleman 
with the divining-rod to South Africa, where he 
would be able to discover not only springs of 
water, but diamonds and gold. His Majesty had 
recently been gratified by the fresh discovery of 
small diamonds in German- African territory, and 
exhibited with great glee his cigarette-case in 
which they had been mounted. He explained to 
us all that they had been found, not, as is usual, 
embedded in blue clay, but lying on the surface 
loose in the sand, and that one of the German 
workers on the new railway had gathered up a 
handful in a few minutes. He also gave it as his 



WILHELMSIIOHE 215 

opinion that they had blown along from some as 
yet undiscovered mine somewhere in the hills. 

1 suggested in a whisper to the Princess, who 
was very triumphant over these German diamonds, 
that they had probably blown over the frontier 
from British territory, and she immediately com- 
municated this theory of mine to her father. 

"No, no ! " roared the Emperor in pretended 
anger. ' " Blew over from British territory indeed ! 
nothing of the kind ! " He scowled portentously 
and— as was his habit— shook a monitory finger 
in my direction. 

When the Court returned to Neues Palais from 
Wilhelmshohe after the Emperor returned from 
the great autumn manoeuvres, as long as the fine 
weather lasted— and the autumn in Potsdam 
is wonderfully beautiful— he would make excur- 
sions on his little river steamer the Alexandria 
along the beautiful chain of lakes which is one of 
the great charms of that district. 

The private landing-stage had been built by 
His Majesty of wood in quaint Norwegian style, 
with two large waiting-rooms and a wide balcony 
overlooking the water. Ranged on shelves round 
the rooms was every variety of Norwegian bowl ; 
some brightly-painted red ones with dragon beak 
and tail, others very beautifully carved in Nor- 
wegian patterns. They had most of them been 
brought back from Norway by the Emperor 
himself. The chairs were of the uncompromisingly 
hard Norwegian peasant type, made entirely of 
wood and without any attempt at adaptation to 
human contours. The sailors who manned the 
Alexandria were some of the crew of the Hohcn- 



216 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

zollevn, and looked very smart in their white-duck 
uniforms. 

As a rule we went in the steamer to the Pfauen- 
Insel or Isle of Peacocks, where was a very queer 
little Schloss, built to resemble an imitation ruin, 
though the imitation was very badly done. It 
had been a favourite resort of Queen Louise of 
Prussia and her husband, and in the cupboards 
upstairs were still to be found some most ex- 
traordinary-looking old bonnets of hers of the 
coal-scuttle type. Not far from the Schloss was a 
Rutsch-Bahn or toboggan slide, which the Princess 
liked immensely, and always insisted that I should 
join her in one of the dreadful "rushes," which 
were accomphshed in Httle boxes something like 
sleighs, with room for two people inside and one 
man outside, who had to stand on the runners 
and push off from the top. We went down at a 
tremendous pace, finally landing on the grass at 
the bottom, where we bumped terrifically till the 
impetus was spent. The man behind always had 
to lean over the inside occupants and grasp at 
two handles in front of the car. 

In a sheltered angle of the Schloss itself the 
supper-table was spread by the footmen with the 
cold viands which had been brought from the 
New Palace. All round lay the shining water, 
and there was a constant rustling and whispering 
of the reeds as they bowed and curtsied to the 
night wind. Sometimes on the warm September 
evenings the Emperor would remain a long time 
at table talking and smoking by the light of 
candles, enclosed in tall glass chimneys to protect 
them from the draught. No one was permitted to 



WILHELMSHOHE 217 

smoke excepting His Majesty — chiefly, I l:)elieve, 
because the Empress has a very strong dishke 
to the odour of tobacco. 

Usually the " visitors' book " of the Schloss was 
produced some time during the evening, and 
every one present signed it. It contained many 
interesting signatures of long-dead-and-gone celeb- 
rities, and the firm, clear writing of the Emperor 
and Empress Frederick occurred frequently, as 
well as that of the " Old Emperor " and Bismarck. 

If during the cruise the weather turned colder, 
the supper was taken to the landing-stage — the 
IMatrosen Station, as it was called — and eaten 
there in the Norwegian rooms, the guests sitting 
uncomfortably on the Norwegian chairs. No 
opportunity of eating out of doors was ever lost, 
and when time did not allow of an excursion, 
supper was served on the terrace just outside the 
windows of the palace, where the orange trees 
scented the air, and the mosquitoes were kept at 
bay by braziers of charcoal on which juniper 
berries were burned. 

Sometimes, instead of going by water to Pfauen 
Insel, the court drove in carriages to Sacrow, a 
small Schloss uninhabited except by the Kastellan 
and his wife, situated in a lovely tangled wilderness 
of garden overlooking the water. To get to the 
other side it was necessary to use the ferry, and 
when the Princess crossed it in the afternoon with 
her ponies, she would assist the ferryman to warp 
his craft over the river. Once when we went to 
Sacrow with an automobile, the shirt-sleeved 
waiter from the adjacent restaurant, the blue- 
jerseyed man in charge of the ferry and the Princess 



218 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

worked all in a row, walking slowly along the 
rope, gravely performing their task together, 
while the two chauffeurs in their elegant royal 
livery regarded this pleasantly democratic picture 
with hardly concealed surprise and amusement. 

The woods round Sacrow were the most beautiful 
of any in the neighbourhood, threaded with sandy 
paths which skirted the water side. In one part 
were the kennels of the Konigliche Meute or royal 
pack of hounds, which we visited once or twice 
in the summer-time before the hunting began. 

During the autumn and winter these hounds 
hunted two or three times a week at Doberitz 
after wild boar, carted from one of the Emperor's 
neighbouring forests. The meets were attended 
almost exclusively by the officers of the regiments 
stationed in Potsdam, and very often by the 
Emperor. The Empress, although very fond of 
riding, was not at all keen on hunting, and rarely 
appeared except on St. Hubert's Day, which is 
a very ceremonial occasion, the horses being 
decorated with green ribbons, and every one 
riding in pink with chimney-pot hat, whereas on 
ordinary occasions the round velvet hunting-cap 
and black coat may be worn. 

The Emperor invariably gives a hunting dinner 
on the evening of this day, when all the gentlemen 
invited appear in pink, each one wearing in the but- 
tonhole of his coat the spray of oak-leaves which 
is the trophy presented to everybody ** in at the 
death." When the Emperor is present at a hunt, 
he himself distributes the bunches of oak-leaves ; 
otherwise it is one of the duties of the M.F.H. 

The riding-horses of His Majesty are mostly 



WILHELMSIIOHE 219 

big- boned weight-carriers of English or Irish 
breed, trained in tlie royal stables for six months 
or so before being ridden by the Emperor. 

Those of the Empress are in charge of a second 
official, who is responsible for their good behaviom*. 

Once, as Their Majesties rode together in the 
early morning in the neighbourhood of Potsdam, 
the horse of the Empress stumbled and fell, 
turning a complete somersault and throwing its 
rider on to her head, fortunately without serious 
injury, thanks to the hard straw hat she was 
wearing. 

It is a very dreadful business for an Empress 
to fall from her horse, even when she receives 
no particular harm. It usually happens before a 
crowd of people, some of whom are necessarily 
held responsible for the accident ; and on this 
occasion one or two of the oflicials became hys- 
terical and shed tears, while the Emperor, under 
the stress of the incident, used some rather sharp 
and very excusable words of censure. The adju- 
tants scattered themselves wildly over the surface 
of the earth in search of a doctor, while Princes 
Oskar and Joachim, who were also riding with 
their parents, did the same. 

Prince Oskar discovered no doctor, but did 
manage to lind a droschky with a miserable- 
looking horse and a very dirty, unkempt driver, 
who was sitting peacefully dreaming on his box in 
front of a house, waiting for his " fare," a young 
ofiicer, to come out. Prince Oskar immediately 
ordered him to come and drive Her Majesty home, 
but the droschky- driver demurred, saying he was 
already engaged and could not leave his fare in 



220 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

the lurch. The Prince insisted, but the faithful 
cabman, perhaps doubtful of the bona fides of the 
affair, still refused the proffered honour of driving 
the Empress home ; so finally the Prince drew his 
sword and bade him in the name of military 
authority (paramount in Germany) to proceed 
with him at once to the indicated spot, bringing 
his droschky with him. So grumbling loudly all 
the way, the disgusted Jehu did as he was bid, 
obviously still convinced that he was the victim 
of some practical joke, and presently found him- 
self the centre of a brilliant but agitated circle 
of people, all talking and suggesting different 
things. 

Her Majesty, who protested at being treated 
as an injured person, as she felt perfectly well 
except for the momentary alarm, would have 
much preferred to remount her horse and ride 
home quietly without so much unnecessary fuss; 
but had perforce to get into the evil-smelling, 
dirty vehicle with her lady-in-waiting, and escorted 
by her two sons and one or two crestfallen officials, 
arrived home, where a very frightened young 
military doctor, who had been somehow unearthed 
from a neighbouring barracks, thought after a 
short examination that it was advisable for the 
Empress to keep her bed. He was then dis- 
missed with appropriate thanks, and the Court 
doctor, who had been summoned from Berlin, 
immediately ordered Her Majesty to get up and 
go about as usual. The flutter in the Palace that 
day was indescribable, and one of the strangest 
things was the absolute divergence of opinion 
among the spectators of the accident. No two of 



WILHELMSIIOHE 221 

them agreed as to the exact manner in which it 
took place, and the discussions about unimportant 
details grew almost acrimonious. 

The droschky-driver reaped most advantage 
from the occurrence, and still relates to an ad- 
miring Potsdam the part he played in extricating 
Her Majesty from a serious dilemma. 



CHAPTER XII 

CADINEN 

CADINEN (pronounced Cad^^nen) and its 
glories were, for the first few months of 
our acquaintance, a frequent topic of the 
Princess's conversation, so that it was with very 
hvely interest that I found myself in the month 
of June of the following year journeying towards 
its promised felicities. We were travelling all 
night in the special train, which carried the usual 
portentous amount of luggage, besides three tutors, 
one doctor, a lady-in-waiting, myself, and various 
footmen and maids. In addition to Prince Joachim 
and his sister, their two young cousins, Princes 
Max and Fritz of Hesse, whose acquaintance I had 
made in Homburg, were also going with us. 

Her Majesty was to come to Cadinen later, 
when the Kieler Woche was over, bringing with 
her Prince Oskar and Prince August Wilhelm 
from Ploen. 

His Majesty never came at the same time as 
his family, for the simple reason that there was 
then no room for himself and his numerous suite : 
even on ordinary occasions it was a very tight 
fit for everybody. 

Once, with a sudden determination to see how 
the Empress was getting on, the Emperor made 

222 




hlNlNi.-HAI.I. A I ktiMlNllA. til .N>. W I I i) IkOl'llIK 
Till-. KMrKROKS CUN 



1 Al.l.KX I'O 



CADINEN 228 

a descent ol' three or four days, announcing his 
coming only a few hours beforehand. A kind of 
general shuffle of apartments had to be made 
instantly, everybody packing up their things and 
squeezing themselves into little out-of-the-way 
holes and corners. Every house in the village 
having a decent spare room was requisitioned, 
but only two were available, the rest being im- 
possible ; and somebody suggested a tent on the 
lawn, but unfortunately there were no tents. 

Most of His Majesty's adjutants had to use the 
train, shunted on to a siding, as an hotel, sleeping 
and dressing there in much discomfort ; for it is 
one thing to live simply, divested of life's super- 
fluities, and quite another to retain a courtier-like 
appearance in the midst of an absolute dearth of 
means to that end. 

" We have only accommodation for a tooth- 
brush and a cake of soap, yet must change into 
four dilierent costumes every day," complained 
one unfortunate Kammer-Herr. 

Fortunately it only lasted for four days, and 
then the Emperor and his suite departed to 
more comfortable and roomy quarters. 

But on our first visit we had the house to our- 
selves and plenty of space in which to move 
about. 

The journey from Berlin is long and slow, and 
appears interminable. The train passes through 
very flat, uninteresting country, especially during 
the last few miles, where the railway approaches 
the Frisches Haff, that curious bay formed by 
the waters of the sluggish Vistula, separated 
from the Gulf of Danzig by a thin strip of 



224 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

sand which stretches some hundred miles along 
the coast. 

Cadinen is about ten miles from Elbing, which i 
is reached from there by a train which puffs 
leisurely up and down the single branch line at long 
intervals of the day. The station platform at this 
little village, when I first knew it, was practically 
non-existent. One descended from the blue-and- 
gold royal train right on to the meadow. Great 
purple columbines, yellow and blue lupines, seemed 
to be almost growing over the line itself. No 
road was visible excepting a sandy cart-track, full 
of ruts, where three or four of the royal carriages, 
looking entirely out of place, were waiting to take 
us up to the Schloss. One felt that a farm-cart 
drawn by a yoke of oxen would have been more 
appropriate. 

We bumped towards the Schloss, the coach- 
man wisely eschewing the track and driving over 
the meadow itself, past a Zigelei (tile-factory) 
belonging to the Emperor, and up a shady lane of 
ancient and weathered oaks, till we came to one 
of those stucco, villa-like country-houses usual 
in the Fatherland, which makes it easy to under- 
stand why the Germans fall into raptures over 
ours in England. 

It stood, with a small interval of untidy lawn, 
close to the road and opposite the village green 
and duck-pond, around which other houses were 
clustered. At the back was what is called a park 
in Germany, but the term has no relation to the 
English idea of a park, and means simply an 
extensive garden and orchard. A lovely avenue of 
chestnut trees was the chief beauty of the garden. 



CADINEN 225 

The]^ unfortunately grew close up to the house, and 
made some of the bedrooms so dark that on dull 
days one could not read or write without a lamp 
on the writing-table, which was very inconvenient, 
especially as our rooms had to serve as combined 
sitting- and bed-rooms. 

The Empress and the Princess had with them 
all their servants, including housemaids, from the 
New Palace, but peasant-women of the neighbour- 
hood waited upon the suite — clean, strong, healthy- 
looking people who usually worked barefoot in the 
fields for a wage of threepence or fourpence a day, 
but at the advent of the court were thrust into 
print gowns and boots, and, wearing little flat 
caps on their heads, pervaded the house, smiling 
broadly. They spoke with an engaging West- 
Prussian accent, and only came for an hour or two 
in the mornings, and again in the afternoons for 
another short spell of work. In the intervals 
they went back to their occupations in the fields, 
for the Inspcktor did not approve of their absence 
just at the busy harvest time. They were all of 
them Catholics, for the Reformation never pene- 
trated to that district, and among them is much 
Polish blood. 

In the rather untidy but pleasant Schloss 
garden was an ornamental pond, from which arose 
at every moment of the day and night, never 
ceasing, never changing, a pitiful moaning cry, 
which speedily got on to everybody's nerves, and 
was possibly the reason why all the grown-up 
people felt rather snappy and cross during the 
first few days. It had somewhat the effect on 
one's mind of a squeaking slate-pencil, and speedily 

16 



226 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

became intolerable, for it penetrated the house, 
and nowhere was there a refuge from the nerve- 
rending noise. 

It was the cry of the Unken, a peculiarly loath- 
some kind of frog which inhabited the pond, where 
large green frogs whose note was a comparatively 
cheerful kind of cackle lived in harmony with 
these almost invisible but painfully audible pests. 

The term Unken-nif (Unken-cry) is used in 
Germany to express any persistently ominous 
prediction, and is a very expressive term, for there 
are few things more depressing to the spirits than 
the call of these tiny black creatures. 

Rendered desperate, however, by our sufferings, 
the little Hessian princes produced a butterfly 
net and managed after some trouble to catch 
a good many of the Unken, which floated on the 
tO|-' of the pond, and were practically invisible 
except for a tiny green spot which projected over 
each eye. The princes speedily became very 
expert at locating them, and enjoyed excellent 
sport every day after dinner, catching over a 
hundred in two or three days. The horrid, slimy, 
glutinous things — which the Princess handled with- 
out any qualms — were a bright flame-colour under- 
neath and deep black above. They were carefully 
transferred in a water-can to the Haff, which 
was not far away, and everyone felt much benefited 
by their change of quarters. 

The chief charm of Cadinen was its idyllic 
simplicity. There were no tourists, no " re- 
spectable " people, just simple workers in the 
fields and crowds of bare-footed sunburnt chil- 
dren. Pigs, sheep, and chickens pervaded the 



CADINEN 227 

place, all of them belonging to His Majesty, who 
had purchased the whole estate just as it stood 
and proceeded with characteristic energy to 
improve it. Gradually he changed the prevailing 
simplicity of everything, and built new stables as 
well as a large automobile garage, containing ample 
accommodation for grooms and chauffeurs. He 
pulled down the old picturesque houses, where the 
children and pigs and chickens had lived together 
in happy amity, and erected some very pretty 
gabled cottages, the plans of which had been sent 
to him from England - charming cottages, with 
roses climbing over the door and wire netting 
round the grass plot to keep out the hens, not 
forgetting a nice convenient pigsty at the back — 
but the bare-footed peasant women with the hand- 
kerchiefs tied over their heads never looked very 
much at home in them, and were always sighing 
after the old, dirty, insanitary houses around 
whose memory their heart-fibres still clung. 

The Emperor was very angry and impatient 
one day with a woman who expressed some of 
this regret, and told her she was ungrateful ; yet 
it was obviously not ingratitude that prompted 
her to speak, but rather a wistful retrospect, a 
sorrowful longing for the scenes associated with 
all the joys she had ever known. Even the duck- 
pond, that enchanted spot where the Princess 
from her window watched every evening the 
farm horses as they waded in and drank 
delicately just in the yellow and scarlet glory 
of the sunset, where the herd of cows came and 
stood in the water, switching their tails and 
taking long, deliberate draughts every evening 



228 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

after milking-time — all was done away with, 
the pond filled up, the green levelled and kept 
smoothly rolled. No children or dogs played on 
it any more, the horses and cattle went another 
way home, and sentries, those adjutants of 
royalty, were posted where erstwhile the geese 
had waddled across the grass. 

Fortunately it was some time before all these 
improvements were made. No sentries marred 
those early years in Cadinen. Only one or two 
green Gendarms wandered about the place or sat 
somnolently in the sunshine. The clink of the 
blacksmith's shop penetrated the open windows 
of the schoolroom as the Princess read with her 
tutor. The blacksmith was a most delightful 
man, who had been at sea and travelled far 
afield, and was still young and handsome, with 
a pleasant-faced wife and two little children, one 
of whom, Lenchen, squinted most frightfully, but 
was a great friend of the Princess. 

" Every year it seems to me that Lenchen 
squints worse," she would sigh after the first 
interview; "but perhaps it is because I haven't 
seen her for so long. She is going to be operated 
on next winter. She would be quite pretty if 
her eyes were right." 

A village forge has been from time immemorial 
an irresistible attraction to children, and it was 
surprising how all roads in Cadinen seemed some- 
how to lead past the blacksmith's, who was 
always either fitting shoes on horses, or mending 
a ploughshare, or doing something interesting of 
that kind. 

" So useful," said the Princess as she gazed— 



CADINEN 229 

" so much better than learning the date of the 
Silesian Wars, isn't it ? " 

Sometimes slie helped to bUnv the bellows. 

A tiny chapel, capable of holding about twenty 
people, had been built on the top of a very steep 
hill in the " park." Every Sunday morning we 
toiled pantingly up to Gollcs-Dicnst. A stalwart 
clergyman came over from Elbing to hold the 
service, and always stood at the door of the church 
and shook hands with each worshipper, saying, 
" Ciod greet you." He seemed almost a size too 
large for the chapel, so tall and broad was he. 
From the doorway was a wide view over the Haff, 
which was always muddy in colour except at 
sunrise, when it was blue, and at sunset, when it 
turned yellow and pink and sometimes blood-red ; 
but beyond it there was always a clear strip of 
deeper blue — the waters of the Baltic, or Ost-See 
(East Sea) as it is called in Germany. We grew 
to know the Haff very well, for every afternoon 
the children were taken across it in a little steamer 
to bathe at a tiny place called Kahlberg, which 
lay on the farther shore. 

This small steamer, called the Radaune, was 
hired from somebody in Danzig for a few weeks 
every summer, and manned by three mariners 
whom the children considered with much reason to 
be the cleverest and most delightful men they had 
ever met. One named Vigand was captain and 
steersman, another attended to the machinery, and 
a third just hovered generally around, fetching 
out camp-stools and answering questions, at which 
he showed himself most fluent and explanatory. 

Prince Joachim, under Vigand' s strict tuition, 



230 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

took lessons in steering ; and the duties of the 
man at the engine were not so arduous but that 
he found time to pop his head up on deck and 
join in the conversation for several minutes at a 
time. 

The doctor and both the tutors, two maids and 
two footmen, also two dogs, always accompanied 
us ; for we took tea on to the shore as well as bath 
towels and changes of dry garments, as the Princess 
had a knack of falling into a wave fully dressed, so 
that one had to be prepared for emergencies. 

The Haff itself was a greasy, oily, rather smelly 
stretch of water in the hot weather — so stagnant 
that a small weed grew on its surface — ^but it 
suffered occasional violent storms, which dis- 
pelled the oily greasiness but tossed the tiny 
steamer up and down in a manner most disagree- 
able to indifferent sailors. Fortunately it only 
took half an hour to get to the opposite side, but 
even that was too long for some people, and they 
succumbed to the horrors of sea-sickness almost 
in sight of port. 

Arrived on the other side, we had, until a small 
pier was built, to get into a boat and row to 
shore, then walk over a strip of sand, which took 
perhaps seven or eight minutes, and there on the 
other side lay the sand-dunes with the beautiful 
clean Baltic Sea dimpling in a curve of white 
foam. 

In the distance away to the left could be seen 
the houses and " pensions " of the tiny fishing 
village of Kahlberg, to which visitors came in 
the season. The far end of the shore was strictly 
reserved for the use of the royal children, so 



CADINEN 231 

that they were able to enjoy themselves without 
restriction. 

It was perhaps the most uninteresting bit of 
coast to be found anywhere. The Baltic is 
practically tideless, and the shore has no rocks to 
break the long monotony of sand which stretches 
away for a hundred miles eastward. The sun 
blazed down fiercely with the usual untempercd 
glare of seaside places ; nowhere was there the 
least shelter from the intense heat ; but the Princess 
and her brother and cousins thought it the loveliest 
spot on earth, for it was the only seaside place 
they knew. They paddled in the waves and dug 
sand castles, and, after great discussions and con- 
sultations with the doctor, were at last allowed 
to bathe, which filled them all to the brim with 
happiness. 

Five minutes was the absolute limit of time 
allowed for us to disport ourselves in the water, 
and the lady-in-waiting stood watch in hand on 
the shore and called " Time's up — come out," at 
the end of what seemed a mere flash of seconds. 

" Why, we haven't had time to get our bathing- 
dresses wet," the Princess would remonstrate, and 
then would commence a heated argument to the 
effect that the Countess must have misread the 
time. This lady, in a position somewhat analogous 
to that of an unfortunate hen who sees her 
ducklings in the water, would stand on the shore 
gesticulating, commanding, imploring with ever- 
increasing vehemence, while the Princess, secure 
in her impregnable position, and fully alive to 
the advantages of lengthened discussion, would 
duck under the water and'emerge splutteringly to 



232 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

shriek, " One minute more, dear Countess, one 
minute more : I know your watch is fast — you said 
so this morning," and she would plunge under 
again, while the outraged Countess, angered by 
this illogical reasoning, would threaten to stop 
the bathing altogether ; and at last, by the most 
circuitous route, the dripping Princess would 
emerge. 

This scene was enacted almost daily, even when 
the doctor conceded ten minutes in the ocean 
instead of five. Often, when the Princess was 
enjoying herself exceedingly, she would plunge 
under as soon as the Countess opened her mouth 
to speak and make a tremendous noise and 
splashing. Once I heard her shriek " Our future 
lies on the water," as a wave swallowed her up 
and nothing but a row of pink toes remained 
visible. 

After bathing we had tea, which was always 
brought to the shore in stone screw-topped bottles 
and drunk out of silver tumblers. After tea 
everybody looked for Bernstein or amber — for the 
coast of the Baltic is the only place in Europe 
where it is found, and Danzig is famous as a 
centre for very beautiful artistic specimens of 
cups and vases ornamented with pieces of this 
stone. 

When it was time to return to the steamer on 
the far side of the sand-dunes, a long row of 
spectators, many of them with cameras, was 
always waiting to see us embark ; and often a 
somewhat shy, reluctant child, propelled forward 
by some invisible agency in the rear, would present 
the Princess with a rose or a bunch of flowers. 



CADINKN 233 

The joy witli which all the children met Vif^and 
and the other members of the crew after their 
short separation was very touching. The engine- 
man exhibited the versatility of his accomplish- 
ments, and a talent for domesticity, by drying 
all the soaked garments, especially stockings, of 
which the consumption was large, in the mysterious 
region down below. 

Prince Joachim's steering was occasionally some- 
what erratic, but improved day by day, until he 
was able to take us into haven and bring up 
alongside the pier in a most masterly manner. 

When the Empress and the two older princes 
arrived, they also accompanied us to Kahlberg, and 
were introduced to Vigand and the rest of the crew 
with great joy, as these heroes had been described 
in detail to Her Majesty long before she saw them, 
and their manifold virtues and talents dinned 
incessantly into her ears. 

The Princess became at this time frequently 
reminiscent of a week she had once passed on her 
mother's yacht, the Idiina. The chief personality on 
board appeared to be the English cook, who hailed, 
I believe, from Brighton, and always addressed 
Her Majesty as " mum." His culinary talents 
excited the rapture of the Princess, who went into 
ecstasies over his porridge and curries and other 
toothsome dishes. One of his brothers was steward 
on board and waited at table, and had the peculi- 
arity of invariably stubbing his toe against the 
raised threshold of the dining saloon whenever 
he came in or out, flying, so to speak, headlong into 
the saloon or alley- way. But the cook's talents 
were so pronounced that the Empress asked him 



234 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

for various English recipes, which I was called 
upon to translate into German a very difficult 
task for any one unacquainted with the technical 
terms of German cookery. 

Sometimes the Princess would drive in her pony- 
cart along the road in the direction of Frauenburg, 
famous as the dwelling-place of Copernicus. These 
drives were not an undiluted joy to her, for the 
small bare-legged peasant children insisted on pre- 
senting flowers all along the route, which meant 
pulling up the ponies every five minutes to avoid 
driving over some staggering infant of tender 
years who, escorted by an elder sister, clasping 
in its grubby little paw some herbage torn from 
the nearest hedge, would precipitate itself reck- 
lessly into the path of the carriage. The flowers, 
generally intermixed with bunches of over-ripe 
wild strawberries, had all to be taken into the 
carriage, and exuded their green sap and berry- 
juice liberally on to the cushions and the dresses 
of the occupants. 

Frauenburg was a quaint old town, the capital 
of the great Prussian diocese of Ermland, formerly 
under the jurisdiction of the Teutonic Knights, 
who possessed large territories in that neighbour- 
hood. In 1309 the executive officers of this great 
order of fighting monks established themselves 
in the castle of Marienburg, a few miles beyond 
Elbing, which the Emperor has recently restored 
to its old glory, having entirely rebuilt it, as far 
as possible in exact accordance with the former 
building, which had almost crumbled to decay. 

Cadinen often suffered from severe thunder- 
storms, which came on with great suddenness. 



CADINEN 286 

One day, when for some reason we did not go to 
Kalilberg, the children and their teachers went 
in two open carriages for a long drive. Prince 
Joachim, who was an ardent whip, drove one of 
them, and we were getting along very merrily, 
several miles away from home, when suddenly 
hea\'y drops began to fall, and the thunder 
rumbled threateningly. Fortunately a big Gartcn- 
Rcstaurant with ample stabling accommodation 
was close at hand, so we immediately drove in to 
the yard, and the carriages and horses were just 
put under shelter as the rain came tumbling down 
in torrents. We all sat in a sort of covered glass 
verandah and played games for an hour, when, 
the weather having cleared up, we started off 
again. To the great joy of the children, almost 
as soon as the horses' heads turned homewards, 
two closed royal carriages were perceived hasten- 
ing in our direction, obviously bringing succour 
for half-drowned persons, for they were piled up 
inside with cloaks and rugs of every description. 
The consternation written legibly on the faces of 
the coachmen made the whole crew of children 
burst into irrepressible laughter, it pictured so 
visibly the agitation of mind into which the whole 
Schloss had been thrown. 

" Yes," remarked the Princess callously, " as 
soon as the storm came on, I could see the 
Countess wringing her hands and putting us to 
bed and the doctor coming to feel our pulses." 

Naturally both Countess and doctor were 
much relieved that their precautions had been 
unnecessary, and we were praised for being "so 
sensible " as to take refuge in the restaurant ; but 



236 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

it was a very lucky chance that we happened to 
be near one, as in that lonely region they were 
but sparsely distributed, and we might have gone 
many miles before finding another. 

The Emperor, among other properties on the 
estate, became owner of a Zigelei or tile-factory, of 
which there are many hundreds along this coast, 
which possesses a peculiar variety of clay, very 
suitable for the manufacture of bricks and tiles. 
The old Cathedral of Frauenburg, of which Coper- 
nicus, though he was never a priest, was canon, 
is built entirely of brick, for there is no stone in 
the neighbourhood. The Emperor's factory has 
in the last few years begun the experimental 
manufacture of the finer kinds of porcelain, and 
produces year by year many artistic objects which 
are sold in Berlin. 

During the many wet days of our stay in 
Cadinen, the children found great occupation in 
modelling various articles out of the prepared 
clay, which were afterwards sent to the factory 
to be burned. Some little fern-pots and vases, 
the product of her amateur efforts, were regarded 
with great pride by the Princess. 

The Emperor took the greatest interest in his 
factory, and never failed to visit it as often as 
he could do so, inspecting and criticizing every 
department. He has built delightful houses and 
cottages for the heads of departments and the 
workers. Some people scoff at it as a piece of 
costly, needless extravagance, and object to the 
Emperor's competition with other factories. It 
is run chiefly, however, as a practical scientific 
experiment, and although a good deal of cheap 



CADINEN 237 

pottery is made and sold to the general public 
at current market prices, it aims at artistic de- 
velopment as well as the invention and discovery 
of colours and new glazes. From his travels the 
i'lmperor is alwa}'s bringing here some piece of 
antique porcelain, Italian, Greek or Roman, which 
may suggest something new in form or colouring, 
lie is so keen himself that he is bound to inspire 
keenness in others. 

Once or twice I have been round the factory 
with the Emperor and Empress, who would stay 
there for an hour or two sometimes on their way 
to or from Romintcn. His Majesty always took 
the whole of his suite with him, and liked them 
to be as interested as himself. On one occasion, 
from the heaped shelves of the warehouses he 
hurled — there is no other word which quite 
expresses it — terra-cotta busts of himself and large 
vases and other pottery of the same material at 
the members of the suite. My share of the spoil 
was a bust of himself and two flower- vases. We 
all emerged carrying our property, and the 
officers in uniform looked rather comical with 
large terra-cotta plaques under each arm or 
cradling a bust carefully against the shoulder. 

In line weather the Princess sometimes rode in 
the forest, but during the second and third year of 
her visit to Cadinen, she devoted herself entirely 
to bathing and did not ride as well. As, however, 
there were twenty riding-horses available, I always 
got up at half-past five, and rode alone with a 
Sattcl-Mcistcr through the beautiful forest, which 
was of quite a different nature to that of Potsdam. 
It had a wild delightful freshness, with dimpling 



238 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

brooks appearing out of the greenery ; great rocks 
and boulders stood at the turn of every path, with 
ferns growing from their crevices. The roads 
were not so good as those to which we had been 
accustomed, as they were full of tenacious and 
shppery beds of clay, and quite dangerous after 
rain, as were the fourteen little wooden bridges 
which crossed the wimpling stream which mean- 
dered aimlessly but beautifully through the trees. 
But when it was impossible to ride in the forest, 
there were the cornfields, and the stubble-fields 
from which the oats had been cleared were mag- 
nificent for a good stretching gallop. Those 
early rides lengthened the day a good deal. 

At five o'clock the Lumpier, the old man who 
trimmed the lamps and cleaned the shoes, would 
knock softly at my door according to orders. I 
would rouse up hastily and dress, and then creep 
warily past the rooms where every one slept, and 
down the back staircase into the yard, where, in the 
morning sunshine, the wrinkled old Huhner-frau 
was feeding her flock of ducks and chickens ; then, 
slipping like a conspirator through the wet bushes 
into the stable-yard round the corner, I would 
come upon the smiling Sattel-Meister in his neat 
uniform, standing beside two horses held by 
stable-boys. We would bow to each other in 
ceremonious German fashion, mount, and away 
into the glory of the dewy morning ; for however 
wet and stormy the after part of the day might 
be, the mornings were always fair and smiling. 

Curtains of filmy cobwebs, threaded with bead- 
lets of dew, spanned every twig, while gorgeous 
beds of lupines ranging from white through pale 



CADINEN 239 

and deep heliotrope to dark purple, great up- 
standing masses ot campanulas, tall yellow fox- 
gloves, and other flowers unknown to me bordered 
the field paths through which we rode. The 
shimmering yellow of the bearded rye, the darker 
reddish-brown of the wheat, rippled like a sea by 
the breath of morning, the vivid emerald of the 
potato fields, the glorious chrome and sulphur of 
the yellow lupines grown as cattle fodder, mingled 
with the subtle green of the forest trees, and 
the long-drawn-out blue thread of the distant 
Baltic, all dappled and gleaming in the dawn, 
blended together in a riot of luminous colour. 

The peasant women working in bands of twenty 
or thirty among the potatoes would lift up their 
friendly brown faces, and wave a hand and smile 
as we galloped past. Occasionally we came 
unexpectedly on one of them kneeling before a 
tiny wooden shrine almost hidden in the standing 
corn. 

The last Sunday of our stay in Cadinen was 
always devoted to the Kinder-Fest, or treat for 
the school-children, given by the Empress. 

The youth of the village was scrubbed and 
washed and starched and ironed to a pitch of 
painful perfection, but none of the children wore 
anything in the shape of finery, and nobody 
thought of curling or waving their abundant locks 
for the occasion. The girls' tight pigtails were 
tied, if anything, a trifle tighter, while the boys' 
heads were cropped almost to the bone. The 
most conspicuous change in their attire was the 
presence of shoes and stockings, which obviously 
severely handicapped their activities. All the 



240 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

light-footed boys and girls, who usually skipped 
untrammelled down the grassy lanes, became slow- 
footed, slouching, awkward louts, moving with 
a stiff propriety which was as much the effect of 
footgear as of respect for royalty. 

The festivities began by coffee and cake at 
three o'clock, for tea is unknown in that district. 
The cake was a kind of bread with currants 
stuck in it at long intervals, and the coffee, which 
we will hope was not as strong as it looked, was 
imbibed by infants of the tenderest age, babes in 
arms sipping it eagerly from their mothers' cups 
apparently without any evil effects. 

The Empress and the Princes and Princess 
waited on the small sunburnt guests, and saw 
that they were well supplied, and after tea was 
finished games were played. 

" The very stupidest games I ever saw," said the 
Princess, who preferred something more exciting 
than " Here we go round the Mulberry-Bush," 
or its German equivalent. So she immediately 
organised sack-races among the boys, helping 
to tuck the small urchins into their sacks, and 
instructing them how to hop along, cheering on 
the blacksmith's son, whom she obviously desired 
to see the winner. 

All the mothers, most of whom appeared to be 
employed at the Schloss as housemaids, clustered 
round in their clean print dresses, watching the 
sports with the deepest interest ; while the green- 
clad foresters, the Inspektor and his family, the 
fishermen from the Haff, also stood in a respectful 
semicircle, gravely and seriously absorbed in the 
sack-races. 



CADINEN 241 

At half-past six the Fcst was iinished, and 
everybody dispersed homewards ; but at the 
Schloss the children often continued the Fest on 
their own account. On one occasion, after supper, 
Prince Joachim having by some mysterious means 
discovered that one of the footmen as well as a 
cook were performers on the harmonica, a sort of 
improved accordion, proposed that they should 
be sent for and an impromptu dance held on 
the lawn. 

The cook arrived first in his white cap and 
apron, looking rather embarrassed at being called 
upon to perform before royalty. He made a 
deep bow to Her IMajesty, and was then con- 
ducted by the young Princes to the garden seat 
and requested to begin at once, so he flung himself 
with the ardour of a true musician into a waltz, 
and they all skipped merrily round upon the grass. 
Presently a rather fat red-faced footman arrived 
with a second harmonica, bowed, and took his 
place beside the cook, and the two went hard at 
it, the cook playing the air while the footman 
made the accompanying harmonies. Occasional 
discords arose, whereupon they regarded each 
other sternly, each tacitly accusing the other ; 
but it never disturbed the rhythm, and the dancers 
hopped energetically round in spite of the heat 
and their hard day's work. 

The cook, possessing an artistic soul, always 
waved his head in time to the music, gazing 
upwards to the stars ; but the fat footman, being 
a man of another temperament, sat stolidly, 
moving nothing but his fingers. 

Bed-time for the children was long passed 



242 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

when the musicians were reluctantly dismissed 
with the warm thanks of the Empress, and cook 
and footman retired in a series of graceful bows 
to their respective spheres. 

The last day at Cadinen comes. The luggage 
has been packed and carried downstairs and loaded 
into carts by a quarter-section of soldiers sent 
over from Elbing for the purpose. The brown- 
faced youths penetrate every room, grinning 
amiably, and shoulder everything they can find, 
while harassed footmen rush about with lists in 
their hands, which they consult hurriedly. 

The train is waiting, the Land-Rat is waiting, 
the Inspektor, the Zigelei-Direktor. In the dusk, 
as we drive down to the station, beyond which 
glimmers the long line of the Haff, we pass rows 
of workpeople, who timidly wave hats and aprons 
as Her Majesty goes by. 

We are quickly in the train, and stand at the 
windows, waving our hands vigorously as it 
moves off. The fields fade away into the distance, 
the blue cornflowers on the edge of the railway 
banks nod farewell, a solitary stork can be seen 
wending his way homewards on wide-sweeping 
wings. The darkness falls and blots it out. 
When the dawn comes we are nearing Potsdam 
once more, and on the whole rather glad to be 
back again, for, as the Princess says, " Cadinen' s 
very nice, but ' there's no place like Home,' is 
there ? " 



CHAPTER XIII 

ROMINTEN 

ROMINTEN, the Emperor's favourite shoot- 
ing domain, hes far away in East Prussia, 
on the very frontier of the Russian Empire. 
For the first few years of my hfe in Germany it 
existed merely as a name. 

Every autumn towards the end of November 
came to the New Palace great loads of antlers 
labelled " Rominter Heide," magnificent out- 
spreading trophies of His Majesty's gun. 

Then one day the Princess announced, to the 
consternation of her governesses, aghast at the 
possibility of further interruptions to her educa- 
tion, that "Papa" was building a new wing to 
the JagdJmus, so that " Mamma " and she herself 
might join him there. 

" Won't it be lovely ? " she said with sparkling 
eyes, and danced about the room in a manner 
expressive of the deepest delight. 

" When you are grown up and done with lessons, 
Princess," suggested the Ober-Gotwernante. 

" Not a bit when I am grown up, but now this 
very autumn. Papa says so ; the house is getting 
on splendidly. It will all be ready by September." 

If "Papa" said a thing would happen, it 
naturally did, let who might disapprove ; so that 
a few weeks later the Princess in her brand-new 

243 



244 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

hunting-dress, accompanied by a blackboard, a 
desk, a large chest of school-books, a tutor and 
myself, went off in the highest spirits to join 
Their Majesties' special train at Berlin. 

The Emperor and Empress were already in the 
train when their daughter arrived, and there was 
a very large suite with them, including Prince 
Philip Eulenburg, who a year or two later fell 
into disgrace, and from being the most trusted, 
most sought-after of all the Emperor's friends, 
was banished entirely from Court and seen no 
more. 

The Empress was attended by one only of her 
ladies — the youngest of the four resident Hof- 
Damen, who would be on duty the whole time; 
but as in Rominten there are no ceremonious 
occasions and no constant changes of costume — 
one of the chief burdens of Court life — the duties 
of the lady- and gentleman-in-waiting are com- 
paratively light. 

We had a very merry supper in the train, the 
Emperor being in an extremely happy, not to 
say hilarious mood, his face constantly crinkled 
with laughter. He told one small anecdote after 
another, some of them almost childish, but irre- 
sistibly comic when accompanied by his in- 
fectious laugh. One was of a child at a Volks- 
Schule who wrote an essay on the Lion as follows : 
" The Lion is a fearful beast with four legs and a 
tail. He has a still more terrible wife called the 
Tiger." 

The royal hunt uniform, which is only worn 
by those in the royal service or by those to whom 
the Emperor grants permission, is extremely pic- 



ROMINTEN 245 

turesque, being of a soft olive-green, with high 
tanned-leather boots and a belt round the waist 
from which is suspended the Hirsch-j anger or 
short hunting-knife. In the soft green hat, turned 
up at both sides, is generally fastened either 
the tail-feathers of the capercailzie, or the beard 
of a gcmsbock, which sticks up like a shaving- 
brush at the back. 

At supper everybody was wearing ordinary 
costume, but they all assembled at breakfast next 
morning after their night in the train in complete 
hunting-dress, even to the footmen who waited 
at table. Although I possessed no uniform, 
unwilling to be a jarring note in the hunting- 
harmony, I had provided myself with a suitable 
green Sports-Kostilm, while the Princess had a 
regulation green Letevka (Norfolk jacket) and 
hunting knife all complete. 

The train passed through the station of Cadinen, 
but it was a further journey of eight hours to reach 
Gross-Rominten, distant some seven or eight 
miles from the hunting-lodge itself. 

The usual rows of flower-crowned school- 
children lined the path and threw flowers into 
the carriages and automobiles. All the popula- 
tion of the country-side had, of course, turned 
out to see Their Majesties, and through a flutter 
of handkerchiefs and waving of hats the pro- 
cession of carriages passed, presently entering the 
great 29,000-acre forest. 

Formerly the village where the Emperor has 
built himself a house was called Teer-hude, which 
might be translated Tarbooth. It was a poor 
place, inhabited by people who made a spare 



246 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

living by distilling tar from the pine-trees ; and 
although the forest belonged to the Crown it had 
not been properly developed and was in a some- 
what neglected condition. 

A little stream called the Rominte ran through 
the district, so the Emperor changed the name 
of the place to Rominten, and with characteristic 
energy and determination set himself to build 
and improve. 

His frequent visits to Norway had given him a 
love for the houses there, built of pine logs ; and 
having all the necessary material at hand, he 
determined to build in the Norwegian style of 
architecture. 

The road to this Jagd-Schloss lay through long 
vistas of pines, which grow here to an enormous 
height — though a few years ago the devastations 
of a caterpillar called die Nonne (the Nun) had 
destroyed a great many of the trees and made 
fearful havoc. The road wound past places 
where whole plantations had perished and all 
the young trees were " in mourning "—that is to 
say, they each had bands of tar-smeared paper 
round their trunks to prevent the inroads of the 
insidious enemy. The Emperor tried to persuade 
one lady that these black bands had been put on 
the trees because an Ober-Forster was dead ; but 
being of a sceptical turn of mind, and knowing a 
little about forestry, she accepted the Imperial 
explanation with some reserve. 

At the entrance to the village of Rominten 
itself, young pine trees cut from the woods had 
been set at intervals along the road and triumphal 
garlands of pine-branches stretched across it. 



ROMINTEN 247 

lu^fore the entrance to the vSchloss were ranf^ed 
lines of sturdy W(X)dmen and foresters in their 
smart uniforms of soft olive -green, holding 
torches in their hands, for the night falls early 
in this regi(^n and the immense trees growing 
so close to the house intercept a good deal of 
light. In the inner gravelled space between the 
two parts into which the Schloss is divided were 
waiting the head-foresters, gentlemen of education 
and culture, who are trained for some years in 
the excellent schools of forestry which are to be 
found in Germany. 

Baron Speck von Sternburg, whose brother 
was at that time German Ambassador in Wash- 
ington, was also there to meet Their Majesties. He 
is the Head Administrator of the whole forest, lives 
and moves among it from year to year, and 
knows every stag almost that roams its immense 
solitudes. He is responsible for the Emperor's 
sport, makes all preliminary arrangements, knows 
by heart the habits, almost the thoughts of the 
deer, and can tell at what particular moment they 
will come out to browse on the open meadows 
that are to be found dotted about like small 
green islands in the vast ocean of trees. 

All the head foresters' houses are in telephonic 
communication with the Schloss itself, so that 
I hey can send word at once of any animal paying 
an unexpected visit, as sometimes wolves and elk 
have been known to wander over the Russian 
frontier close by. 

The Emperor, almost before he has well de- 
scended from his carriage, plunges at once into 
hunting-talk with Herr von Sternburg, while 



248 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

the Empress and the Princess, after greetings 
and introductions, enter the house to explore 
their new habitation. The Schloss is really two 
houses, built entirely of pine logs, connected by 
an overhead gallery supported on massive pine 
stems as thick as the masts of a ship. In every 
room the walls consist of the bare logs, which 
have been trimmed into a slightly oval form and 
then laid one on the top of the other, the whole 
being smoothly varnished. Tables and chairs are 
made of the same wood, and the green carpets 
of a moss-like pattern carry on the woodland 
suggestion. 

The roof is deep and low, and the upper story 
has a gallery running its length, which over- 
shadows the windows of the lower rooms, making 
them rather dark. The fireplaces and chimneys 
are made of unglazed red brick, and the fire of 
logs is built on a wide fiat hearth, raised a little 
above the floor level. They too are, of course, 
also Norwegian in character, running up in a 
Gothic pinnacled form. All is very simple and 
solidly, almost ruggedly, built. The log walls 
have one drawback. Smells and sounds pene- 
trate their crevices very easily. If the footman 
in the basement indulges in a cigar, the Empress 
in her sitting-room upstairs is instantly aware 
of it. 

The dining-room, which is in the part of the house 
occupied by the Emperor, is a fine building with 
a iiigh-pitched roof of massive beams, from which 
hang many splendid trophies of the chase, fallei] 
to His Majesty's gun. There is a long wide 
window to the left, two large brick fireplaces at 



ROMINTEN 249 

the end, a sideboard with a buttery-hatch into 
the kitchen, and wooden chairs surrounding the 
massive table which are quite penitential in their 
hardness; yet, since Majesty sits on them without 
any ameliorating interposition of cushions, no 
one dare complain. In a few days' time they 
become more endurable. 

The Emperor once overheard some comment 
of mine relative to their unyieldingness. 

'' What's the matter with the chairs ? " he says 
sharply, bulging his eyes at me in the usual 
Imperial manner. " Don't you like them ? " 

'' Yes, your Majesty," I reply meekly, '' I think 
they are beautiful chairs, but somewhat^ — er — 
harsh — on first acquaintance." 

" Harsh ! " he laughs derisively — " I hope they 
are. Time you came here and learned to do 
without cushions. Here we live hardily." He 
laughs like a delighted schoolboy, and asks every 
day afterwards if the chairs are getting a little 
softer. 

Certain friends of His Majesty came every year 
with him to Rominten. First and foremost among 
them all was that Prince Philip Eulenburg before 
mentioned, a pale, grey-haired, somewhat weary- 
looking man with a pallid, fleeting smile, something 
of a visionary, with a nature attracted to music 
and art, as well as towards all that is strange or 
abnormal in life. He was a born raconteur, like the 
Emperor, but told his tales in a quiet, soft, subtle 
voice, with a grave face and a certain fascinating 
charm of manner. One could easily understand 
how the robust personality of the Emperor, so 
frank, so generous, so open-hearted, was attracted 



250 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

to the somewhat reserved, mysterious, gentle 
nature of this brilhant man, who yearly enter- 
tained His Majesty at his own home, Schloss 
Liebenberg, and was the repository of his thoughts 
and aspirations. 

He, however, disappeared. Rominten knew 
him no more. Yet probably no one was more 
missed than he whose name was never afterwards 
mentioned there. I can still see his pale face 
emerge from behind the red curtains of the gallery 
when he came to the tea-table of the Empress 
and sat down to entertain us with his store of 
literary and artistic reminiscences. He had the 
look even then of an ill man, whose nerves are 
not in the best condition, who is pursued by some 
haunting spectre, some fear from which he cannot 
escape. 

Another man of a different type who came 
yearly was Prince Dohna of Schlobitten, a tall 
elderly gentleman who was a mighty hunter, 
and knew all about deer and their habits. We 
ladies were much indebted to him for instruc- 
tion in the proper terms of venery -for, as the 
Princess forcibly impressed on us, it was quite 
impossible when at Rominten to speak of any 
part of an animal by its usual name, every- 
thing having a special and peculiar designation. 
" Nose, eyes, ears and tail " were shocking to 
the ear, and no longer to be tolerated, suffering 
a change into something technical and sporting. 
The " ears" of the hare, for example, had to be 
called its " spoons," and the feet of the deer 
became "runners" — I think — ^but it may have 
been something else. 



ROMINTEN 251 

One notable visitor came once to Rominten for 
a short stay of an hour or two on his way back 
to Russia from America —a rather stern, silent, 
harassed-looking man with peasant-features, who 
moved wearily and with an air of abstraction 
beside the Emperor as they walked up and down 
on the gravelled space before the Jagd-Haus. 
It was lierr Witte, the Russian statesman, soon 
to become Count Witte, on his way home after 
negotiating terms of peace between his country 
and Japan. At table he sat eating soup somewhat 
nervously, with the air of a man in a dream, 
listening politely to the Emperor's talk, replying 
in monosyllables, but conversing with no one 
else. He was obviously tired and apprehensive. 

Soon after dinner we saw his carriage departing 
for the station. He would be in Russia before 
nightfall. 

Every morning in the early darkness somewhere 
between five and six, or it may have been even 
earlier, the panting of a motor-car could be 
heard outside, and presently it departed, bearing 
away the Emperor and his loader to some remote 
corner of the forest where a lordly stag had been 
marked as coming in the early mornings to 
browse. 

At eight the Princess and I breakfasted alone in 
the little corridor outside Her Majesty's sitting- 
room upstairs. Often we made for ourselves 
beautiful buttered toast at the big fire which 
blazed on the hearth ; and once the Princess, 
who always had a fine feminine instinct for that 
sort of thing, took a large succulent plateful of 
this delicacy downstairs to I lis Majesty, who 



252 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

happened for a wonder to be at home for breakfast 
at the appointed hour. This was a thing which 
very seldom happened — for, as a rule, we from our 
window could see the hungry courtiers waiting 
about the courtyard for the Emperor's return, 
which was naturally apt to be rather uncertain as 
to time, sometimes being postponed till eleven. 

Rominten was the only place where Their 
Majesties breakfasted with the suite. Usually it 
was a meal taken strictly en famille and at a very 
rapid pace. 

The Emperor appreciated the Princess's buttered 
toast so much that the Empress directed that 
some should be sent up every morning. Now 
buttered toast is quite unknown in the Father- 
land excepting perhaps in large and fashionable 
hotels where international customs prevail. Rather 
leathery dry toast is served at tea ; but when 
the royal command for buttered toast reached 
the kitchen through the medium of the footman 
it created nothing short of consternation. A 
flurried lackey came hastening up to me begging 
for some slight hints as to how it should be made. 
I foresaw that any instructions I might give 
when they reached the cook distilled through 
the footman's mind would be vague and unsatis- 
factory. Nevertheless I did my best ; but the 
Empress told me afterwards that the toast was 
quite uneatable- — a result which rather gratified the 
Princess, who liked to believe that she was the 
only person capable of making toast for " Papa." 

The lessons with the tutor lasted from half-past 
eight until twelve o'clock, when a short walk 
with the Empress was taken, weather permitting. 



ROMINTEN 258 

After luncheon, if the stag or stags slain by the 
lun])(M()r had arrived, we all assembled under 
the dining-room window for the ceremony of 
" the Strecke." The stags were laid on the small 
lawn beneath the windows, and three of the 
Jagers of I lis Majesty blew on hunting-horns the 
old hunting-call of the " lla-la-li," denoting to 
all who hear the success of the sportsman. 

Somewhere between three and four the Em- 
peror in his hunting cart would start off again 
to shoot, the Empress and suite waithig for his 
departure and shouting " Waidmann's Heil" as he 
drove away. Then Her Majesty, with the Princess 
and the rest of us, would also climb into other 
yellow-varnished hunting-carts and drive in 
another direction, to try and get a glimpse of 
the stags browsing. Our conversation had to be 
rather suppressed, for fear of alarming the deer 
in their " sylvan solitudes," and we usually 
descended from the carts to walk to one of the 
numerous "pulpits" as they were called — small 
raised platforms screened by a frame of pine 
twigs, from which the Emperor sometimes shot — 
although, as a rule, they were used for purposes 
of observation only, and the shooting was done 
from behind another screen down below. 

It was always a little tantalizing going to see 
the deer feed, because very often they didn't 
appear. The stairs up to the pulpits creaked 
and groaned as any one rather weighty went up 
them, and the rest regarded the guilty one with 
annoyed looks and said "S'sh"; but the more 
silent and stealthy we were the less the stags 
showed themselves. When they did, stepping 



254 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

out proudly from the dark shadows of the trees, it 
was a very fine sight. The deer on the Rominter 
Heide are remarkable for their splendid antlers, 
and there are few things more gracefully beautiful 
than the manner in which a stag carries his 
splendid wide-spreading ornaments, especially when 
running with the speed of the wind among the 
forest trees. 

Baron Speck von Sternburg lived in a large 
house in a corner of the forest where it opened 
out into a meadow near a village called Sittkeh- 
men. He had three or four children, and his 
charming wife, herself the daughter of an officer 
of the Forest Department, was quite as keen, 
and possessed nearly as much knowledge of wood- 
craft as her husband. 

Once when the Empress had been with the 
Princess into the village visiting some of the 
cottages, as we came back to the Schloss, hurrying 
a little for fear of being late for our one -o'clock 
dinner, we were met in the drive by an excited foot- 
man, who said that an Elch — which I took to mean 
a moose or elk — had been seen by the Baroness 
in the forest, that the Kaiser had ordered out 
all the automobiles and carriages, and that every 
available person was to serve as beater, Her 
Majesty and the Princess and the ladies being 
specially invited in that capacity. 

Everybody flew in and out of the Schloss fetch- 
ing walking-sticks and cloaks, and in a few seconds 
the first automobile, containing the Emperor 
and Empress, the Princess and the two ladies, 
the Emperor's loader with the heavy sporting 
rifles being outside with the chauffeur, started 



ROMINTEN 255 

off in pursuit of this animal, which, not having a 
proper sense of pohtical boundaries, had wandered 
over from Russia in the night. We only hoped 
it had not wandered back again, but I had a 
sneaking sort of feeling down in my heart that I 
should be almost glad if it had done so. 

The car flew along, the Emperor talking volubly 
about the Elch and its habits and his hopes of 
slaying the confiding creature ; and at last we 
were deposited about eight miles from home on a 
rather squelchy, marshy piece of ground, where 
we were met by Baron von Sternburg and com- 
manded to follow him in perfect silence, the 
Emperor meantime going on in the car in a 
different direction. After a long damp walk we 
were all posted at intervals of about a hundred 
yards along a thick alley of pines, with whispered 
instructions to stay where we were and prevent 
the quarry from breaking through, although we 
all had grave doubts as to our ability to prevent 
any animal as large as a moose from doing any- 
thing it felt inclined. I went up to the gentleman 
on my left and whisperingly asked what methods 
I must employ supposing the mighty beast sud- 
denly appeared in front of me, and he indicated 
a feeble waggling of the hands as being likely to 
turn it back in the direction of the Emperor's 
rifle. 

I cannot say if we should have been able to 
intimidate the moose by means of this manoeuvre 
if it had really appeared ; at any rate we were not 
put to the test, for after having waited for an 
hour or two, growing minute by minute more 
ravenously hungry, while the water penetrated 



256 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

into our boot-soles, it became evident that the 
sagacious animal must have returned to his native 
wilds, and we returned sadly to our long-delayed, 
somewhat over-cooked dinner, where we found 
the unfortunate tutor of the Princess, who had been 
waiting for his food without any of the alleviating 
excitement of the chase from one o'clock until 
three, which was the hour when we at last sat 
down to our long-delayed meal. 

Once on our way from Rominten back to Berlin 
we had a rather disagreeable adventure in Konigs- 
berg, where the Emperor stayed for a few hours 
for the purpose of dining at the officers' mess of 
one of the Grenadier regiments stationed there. 

We had started from Rominten very early in 
the morning, and the Princess, rather unluckily as 
it turned out, was still wearing her green hunting 
uniform, although the rest of the party had 
reverted to the usual less conspicuous costume of 
ordinary wear. The Emperor and his suite were 
to stop at Konigsberg, while the Empress and 
her daughter, with the ladies. Prince Eulenburg 
and the gentleman-in-waiting. Count Carmer, 
after a short wait of half an hour to let the express 
pass before us to Berlin, would proceed onwards 
to Cadinen, there to await the arrival of His 
Majesty towards evening. 

We had all descended on to the red-carpeted plat- 
form to witness the reception of the Emperor, and 
had seen him drive away amidst the cheers of an 
immense crowd waiting outside the station, when, 
to our surprise, the Princess begged her mother 
to fill up the intervening twenty minutes left to 
us by ''a short walk," as she was very tired 



ROMINTEN 257 

of being in the train. Her Majesty too appeared 
to think that it would make an agreeable diversion, 
and though somebody suggested the difficulty 
of moving about in such a crowd as would pro- 
bably be gathered together, yet, the Princess 
being very urgent, the expedition was undertaken. 

We moved across the space in front of the 
station, which had been kept clear by the police, 
in full view of the enormous mass of people 
gathered there, the young Princess in her green 
uniform being a very conspicuous object. A 
pleasant elderly officer was to escort us on what 
the Empress called our " little stroll through the 
town," though that was hardly perhaps the 
appropriate expression. 

Full of apprehension, which was amply justified 
by our subsequent adventures, we walked over 
the empty space, the Empress chatting to the 
officer, while the rest of us looked at each other, 
trying to think that what we foresaw must happen 
would perhaps not be so inevitable after all. The 
people began to cheer wildly as soon as they 
realized that the Empress was before them, for 
her name naturally had not been included in the 
programme of the day's ceremonies; and as soon 
as we emerged from the emptiness into the crowd 
itself, we all realized at once the imprudence of 
the step taken, and the danger involved, not 
only to ourselves, but also to the unwieldy mass 
of humanity. 

Most of the extra policemen drafted into the 
town had naturally been placed on the streets 
along the route where the Emperor would pass, 
and as we had directed our steps to a more 

17 



258 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

secluded thoroughfare, there were none to be 
seen anywhere, with the exception of those near 
the station. 

The enormous crowd seemed to break up at 
once with a yelp of astonished joy, and to fling 
itself with that blindly loyal ardour so character- 
istic of the nation upon our small group. 

" Let us get back to the station," implored the 
Empress, who saw at once the danger of advancing 
into that yelling, shouting, scampering, excited 
mass. 

It was wonderful to see the orderly, apparently 
disciplined crowd of a moment before, which had 
settled down peaceably to wait for the Emperor's 
return, suddenly disintegrate into a wildly-running 
horde, to watch the policemen, voluble and ex- 
cited, and absolutely nonplussed at the unexpected 
turn of events, swept like leaves before the wind. 
Their shouts, blows and expostulations were 
powerless to stem that torrent of irresistible 
humanity. The shriek of their voices betrayed a 
fearful anxiety and powerlessness, which sounded 
ominously in our ears. 

We all wanted to return to the station — even 
the Princess was obviously ready to renounce 
her ** little walk " through the town — but a glance 
behind showed its impossibility. All we could 
do was to keep on, the officer pointing out a side- 
street which he thought led back to the station 
in another direction. 

He kept on continually shouting vain appeals to 
the crowd, which became every moment denser, 
ruder and dirtier. It was the hour when the 
workshops and factories vomited forth their 



ROMINTEN 259 

occupants for Mittagessen, so that it soon became 
a crowd composed largely of Socialists and Jewish 
Poles, who congregate in Konigsberg. Unfortu- 
nately we took a wrong turning, and our road led 
through some of the worst quarters of the town. 

The cheering and hurrahing soon ceased, but 
the shouting and yelling went on ; we were the 
centre of a dirty, frowsy mob, who smelt abomin- 
ably, and treated our small group as though we 
were a show of some kind out for their amusement. 
The officer again appealed to the better feelings 
of the people, and begged the dirty children to re- 
member what they had been taught in school, 
but they only laughed and darted in and out and 
laid their filthy hands on the dress of the Empress. 

In my younger more unregenerate days I had 
learned from a schoolboy brother a certain sudden 
grip at the back of the neck or collar which we 
often employed in any slight dispute. Our nurses 
and governesses always characterized it as " most 
unladylike," which no doubt it was, but none the 
less effective ; and as these horrible children grew 
bolder and more repulsive, and tried to dart 
between the Empress and the Princess, I found 
this old " choker," as we had called it, very useful 
in intercepting them. As a yelling boy bumped 
along, he was suddenly " brought up short " in 
mid career and by a grip at the nape of his neck 
flung back among his comrades, helping to put 
them also into momentary confusion. Even this 
slight check was a great help, and although it was 
warm work for such a hot day, I continued 
unweariedly, with a certain sporting pleasure 
which struck me at the time as amusing, to 



260 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

capture one filthy youngster after another and 
fling him violently back into the roadway. The 
officer still shouted after policemen, and presently 
I became aware of one walking beside me, who 
was also aiding in the good work of " chucking 
out." I think he had caught the idea from me. 
At any rate we toiled in tacit good-fellowship 
side by side for some time. Then at last a few 
more policemen were picked up and we got into 
a rather more respectable neighbourhood ; but the 
crowd was still frightfully dense, and the police- 
men banged and thrust unmercifully. Sometimes 
quite innocent, unsuspecting people just coming 
out of their own doorways were taken by the 
shoulders and whirled back into their homes 
again, wondering, I am sure, if dynamite or an 
earthquake had struck them. 

At last we came again in view of the station, 
and a mass of policemen took us in charge, still 
rather nervous — the policemen I mean — and very 
irritated with the crowd and perhaps a little with us. 

The time for the train to start was overdue. 
We scrambled in hurriedly, but the Empress 
wished to show the accompanying officer some 
recognition of the strenuous activity he had 
displayed on her behalf. The gentleman-in- wait- 
ing hastily produced a case full of those roj^al- 
monogrammed-scarfpins, studs, and brooches, 
which are part of the travelling equipment of every 
court. The officer received a tie-pin, and one of 
the pohce-officers some studs, thrust into his hands 
almost as the train moved off, and we were left 
to review and discuss the experiences of the last 
half-hour. 



ROMTNTEN 261 

" Never, no, never in the whole course of my 
experience," declared the Empress, " was I in 
such a fearful crowd. I really began to think 
that we never should emerge alive. It was too 
horrible." 

She shuddered and was obviously unstrung. 
As for the Princess, she was unusually pale and 
subdued, and it was a long time before she again 
proposed " a tiny walk " in a strange town. 

In the next morning's Konigsberg Times was 
a paragraph in the news column to the effect 
that the Empress and Princess, with a small 
following, had walked " ungezwungen " (freely) 
through the town for a short time. Obviously the 
reporter had not been in the thick of the crowd. 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE KAISER AND KAISERIN 

THE key to a man's actions must always 
be found in his personal character. Two 
men saying exactly the same thing do not 
mean the same thing, but through the medium 
of speech are expressing their own individualities, 
prejudices, illusions, their outlook on the world. 
The German Emperor, explained, interpreted, 
misinterpreted, by his own actions perhaps as 
much as by the many persons who, after a few 
hours' conversation with him, imagine that they, 
and they only, have had a real soul-revelation 
from this frankly-unreserved, many-sided monarch, 
might say with Emerson, *' To be great is to be 
misunderstood." It is not at all unlikely that he 
does not particularly want to be understood — that 
he hardly understands himself. " A foolish con- 
sistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." 

The Emperor's conversation at its best has a 
certain quality of intoxication — is provocative of 
thought and wit. Men have been seen, grave 
American professors and others of that type not 
easily thrown off their mental balance, to retire 
from talk with His Majesty with the somewhat 
dazedly ecstatic look of people who have indulged 
in champagne ; then they go home, and under 

262 



THE KAISER AND KAISERIN 263 

the influence of this interview write eulogistic, 
apologetic character-sketches of the Emperor. 

It may be asked how does he appear in the 
intimacies of private life, to the inner circle of 
his Court, to those who see him in unguarded 
moments ? Men often change for the better, or 
sometimes for the worse, when they retire from 
the public eye. But the Emperor is much the 
same everywhere, he has no special reserves of 
character for domestic consumption only. 

At home he inspires much the same charm that 
he does abroad, and sometimes the same irritation. 
Unexpected people, whimsical people, are neces- 
sarily alternately irritating and charming just as 
their moods happen to please or displease the 
circle of people whom they affect. He is a man 
who is bound to get somewhat on the nerves of 
those who surround him, to make his service 
laborious to his servants, his secretaries, his 
courtiers, who live in a state of continual appre- 
hension, fearing that they may not be ready for 
some sudden call, some unanticipated duty. There 
is no more alert place in the world than the 
Prussian Court. 

" We are like the Israelites at the Passover," 
grumbled one lady: "we must always have our 
loins girt, our shoes on our feet — shoes suitable 
for any and every occasion, fit for walking on 
palace floors or down muddy roads — our staff in 
our hand ; nobody dare relax and settle down to 
be comfortable." 

The Emperor disapproves of people who want 
to settle down and be comfortable. In a jolly, 
good-humoured but none the less autocratic kind 



264 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

of way, he sets everybody doing something. He 
hkes to keep things moving, has no desire for the 
humdrum, the usual, the everlasting sameness of 
things. 

No one who knows the Emperor intimately can 
fail to see how early English influences have 
helped to mould his character, how intensely he 
loves and admires English life as apart from 
English politics, for which he has a perplexed, 
irritated wonderment and contempt. 

*' Not one of your Ministers," he said to me 
on one occasion, '' can tell how many ships of the 
line you have in your navy. I can tell him — he 
can't tell me. And your Minister of War can't 
even ride : I offered him a mount and every 
opportunity to see the manoeuvres — ' Thanks 
very much for your Majesty's gracious offer — 
Sorry can't accept it — I'm no horseman un- 
fortunately.' A Minister of War ! — and can't 
ride ! Unthinkable ! " He gave his short, sharp 
laugh. 

But life as lived in the English country-side 
has for him irresistible charms. 

When some years ago he for a few weeks occupied 
Highcliffe Castle, near Bournemouth — a proceeding 
which very much annoyed a section of his subjects, 
who considered that Germany possessed just as 
many " eUgible residences" for, the purposes of a 
" cure " as did England, of whom those Germans 
who know least of her are naturally most sus- 
picious — his letters to Her Majesty, portions of 
which she occasionally read aloud at supper, 
showed how absolutely he enjoyed that peaceful, 
comfortable, untrammelled, simple country-house 



THE KAISER AND KAISERIN 265 

life : how the beautiful gardens — there are no 
beautiful gardens in Germany — the product of 
years of thought and labour, a growth of the ages, 
imbued as they are with the glamour and mystery 
of the past, appealed to the artistic side of his 
soul ; how " thoroughly at home " — his own ex- 
pression — he felt there, how rested and refreshed 
in body and soul. 

He wanted the Empress, if only for a week, to 
come and join him, so that she might share some- 
thing of his delight and pleasure in the old house, 
in its wealth of memories, its many treasures of art 
and historical relics ; but there was the difficulty 
of accommodating the suite, the ladies and gentle- 
men, the maids and footmen, with which royalty 
can never dispense, however simple in its own 
personal needs it may be. 

So the plan fell through — the time was too short 
to arrange matters ; but the Emperor in his letters 
described in minutest detail everything that 
happened there— his delight in the pretty English 
children he met, his pleasure in the tea he gave 
to the boys and girls on the estate, his astonish- 
ment at their well-dressed appearance, their 
reserved, composed manners, at the way in which 
they sang grace, at the clergyman who controlled 
the proceedings and knew how to box and play 
cricket. It is quite impossible to imagine a Ger- 
man Pastor who can play cricket, and as for 
boxing . . . ! 

" Poor Papa ! " said the Princess, " he is quite 
broken-hearted at leaving his dear Highcliffe." 

Any one living in the atmosphere of German 
palaces can understand this regret. It is conceded 



266 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

that no one in the world can create hke the English 
that delightful surrounding of freedom and com- 
fort, of cultured, artistic luxury combined with 
a certain strenuous out-of-door life. The palaces 
inhabited by the Emperor are huge, magnificent 
buildings, expensively and uncomfortably con- 
structed ; and Germany has too recently been 
engaged in the stern business of war, her faculties 
are still too absorbed in the great question of 
defence, to be able to afford the leisure to accumu- 
late those relics and treasures of past ages which 
are the charm of England. 

" Ah, you have never had a Napoleon to plunder 
and burn your country houses," sighed the Em- 
peror, almost apologetically, once, when talking 
of his English visit : " your Reynoldses and 
Gainsboroughs, where would they have been if 
Napoleon's Marshals or his soldiers had seen 
them ? Perhaps burnt or destroyed, or sent to 
the Louvre. Think what it must mean to the 
children of a house to live with one of those 
pictures, to absorb it unconsciously into their 
mentalities ; they rrnist grow up with a love of 
beautiful things —they cannot help it. We have 
nothing of the kind ; our houses were stripped 
and burnt." 

I suggested something about Cromwell and the 
way his gentle Ironsides in their zeal smashed up 
the beautiful sculptures of our cathedrals and 
stabled their horses in the naves. " Though the 
horses did less damage than the men," I conceded. 

"Ah, Cromwell!" he replied: "Cromwell did 
nothing in comparison with Napoleon ; besides, 
that was much further back — long ago — Gains- 



THE KATSP^R AND KAISERIN 267 

liorough and Reynolds not yet born. All our 
art treasures were absolutely destroyed, burnt, by 
Napoleon. Art and War cannot live side by side. 
We have had too much fighting, and now must 
re-create, rebuild almost from the beginning." 

" Yes, it is lucky for us that we live on an island, 
and that the French fleet met its Trafalgar," I 
said. " Nelson saved our art-treasures for us, I 
suppose." 

" I expect he did," returned His Majesty, 
nodding his head emphatically. " So you recognize 
that, do you ? " and he turned away laughing and 
still nodding vigorously, thinking, I am sure, a 
good deal about Nelson and the fleet. 

Nobody has ever accused the Emperor of being 
a diplomatist. He himself believes that he is 
very astute and can see farther than most men. 
He is, so to speak, a little blinded by his own 
brilliancy, by the versatility of his own powers, 
which are apt to lead him astray. He has never 
acquired the broad, tolerant outlook of a man 
who tries to view things from another's standpoint. 
He has, in fact, only one point of view — his own 
— and a certain superficiality characterizes his 
thought. He has a marvellous memory for facts, 
deduces hasty inferences, is too prompt in de- 
cision, relies perhaps too entirely on his own 
judgment and his own personal desires and 
experiences; he does not, in fact, give himself 
time and opportunity to think things out, to 
weigh consequences, and he has, unfortunately, 
few really great minds around him. Conscientious, 
hard-working men in plenty, but the man of 
imagination, of original conception, of new ideas 



268 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

— and there are many such men in Germany — does 
not seem to be admitted to his councils. A great 
statesman is not at hand just now— one who can 
impress his thought on the Emperor's receptive 
mind and guide his activities, the wonderful 
forces of his mind, into the best avenues for their 
development. 

In spite of his belief in the special mission of 
the Hohenzollern family to carry out Divine 
purposes, an idea not uncorroborated by the course 
of history, he is in every respect more democratic 
than his Court. The magic " von " has, under 
his influence, lost some of its prestige. He has 
bestowed the coveted syllable on certain people 
whom he desired to see at Court, and invited to 
his table many men not enjoying the prepositional 
advantage. One of them, Herr Ballin, the head 
and inspiration of the Hamburg-America Line of 
Steamships, a self-made man with Jewish blood 
in his veins, was even asked to Rominten, where 
only the elect expect to meet each other. Not 
only that — to him was conceded a rare and 
much-coveted privilege : he was allowed to go 
stag-hunting, and, worse still, bagged three fine 
specimens, one of them a stag-royal. 

What made this still more galling to the blue- 
blooded entourage was that a special friend of the 
Kaiser, a dear, delightful, charming old gentleman 
whom everybody liked, had been accorded a 
similar favour, but came back time after time 
without wearing the coveted spray of oak-leaves 
in the back of his hat, the leaves whose absence 
is so painfully eloquent of failure. 

A universal groan used to go up from the 



THE KAISER AND KAISERIN 2G9 

lingerers in the courtyard as the yellow Ji(gd- 
Wugen appeared in sight and still no "Spriich" 
was visible to the anxious watchers. 

" There, the General has again had no luck ! " 
they would remark ; and it became quite monoto- 
nous to see the General depart, ail smiles, in his 
green uniform amid a chorus of " Waidmann's 
Ilcil," and watch his return sadly and slowly in 
the dusk of evening. 

The Emperor likes to be identified with success- 
ful people of every class, to feel that he has 
contributed something to their success, to indicate 
to them further channels of improvement. There 
are probably few successful artists, architects, 
engineers, or shipbuilders, who have not been at 
some time indebted to the Emperor for many 
professional suggestions. It is a matter of 
common knowledge that all architectural plans for 
Government buildings, post offices, railway stations, 
barracks, etc., are invariably submitted to His 
Majesty — a censorship productive of many terrors 
and much apprehension in the ofhcial mind, for 
the question of expense is ignored and the Imperial 
blue pencil strikes out perhaps the toil of months, 
substituting something maybe less adequate to 
the intended purpose. Yet, on the whole, this 
autocratic method has been productive of much 
good : it has saved the nation from the frightful 
utilitarian atrocities of the inartistic Town Council, 
whose hideous square piles of bricks lie like a 
nightmare on the public conscience. If the 
Emperor often misses the best, his taste is at any 
rate on a sufhciently high level of excellence, and 
it impro\es with advancing years, i 



270 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

Among the many artists, some good, many of 
mediocre talents, to whom he has given his 
patronage, the famous Laszlo has painted the 
most successful portraits of the Kaiser and 
Kaiserin, and their daughter. Perhaps the most 
charming of all is that of the young Princess with 
her hair falling over her shoulders and her hands full 
of flowers. She and Herr Laszlo were very great 
friends, and it was amusing to hear the Princess 
attempt to talk about Art — for, to tell the truth, 
her e:Korts at drawing had, at that period, not 
advanced very far. Laszlo wished very much to 
see her productions, and she one day brought him 
a few rather smudgy charcoal sketches which 
many people had pronounced ''quite nice." Laszlo, 
however, left her no illusions on the subject. He 
looked at them and smiled, and laid them down 
and said, " Well, shall we get on with pur picture 
now ? " 

The Princess once gave him a doll dressed in 
Rococo costume, and he painted its portrait in oils 
and sent it to her on her birthday. It is now one 
of her most cherished possessions. Laszlo' s portrait 
of Her Majesty was an excellent likeness, and 
conveyed that air of stately dignity and placid 
calm so characteristic of the Empress, one which 
no other of her portraits possesses. Besides these 
three royal sitters the Crown Prince and Princess 
too were sketched in oils, and the resulting likeness 
of the Crown Prince was extraordinarily clever, 
conveying the curious cat-like, rather mesmeric 
look of his eyes. It was almost too good a like- 
ness, and many people disliked it extremely — it 
was so unlike the rather quiet, absorbed ex- 



THE KAISER AND KAISERIN 271 

pression that most artists give to His Imperial 
Highness. 

To see the Emperor with children is always 
amusing. His own, with the exception of his 
little daughter, he has kept as they grew up 
sternly to their duties, first as schoolboys, then 
later on as officers in the army. Only of his 
little girl — now a little girl no longer — has he 
been heard to relate infantine anecdotes, to tell 
of her tiny imperious ways and childish wilfulness. 
But none of them, though they all adored " Papa," 
were ever familiar with him. They all were 
brought up to believe him the most wonderful 
person in the world, but in that they were not so 
very different from a good many other children. 
To see the Emperor with his grandsons is perhaps 
one of the pleasantest sights in the world ; to 
hear them explain their picture-books to Gross- 
Papa, to watch them gravely saluting each other 
when they meet in uniform, or to see the four 
small boys in white sailor-suits stooping in turn to 
kiss His Majesty's hand. They are on the very 
best of terms, for Gross-Papa has a wonderful 
knack of finding his way to childish hearts. 

The Kinderheim at Rominten is a kind of 
creche, established by the Empress for the tiny 
children, where, when their mothers are working 
in the fields, they can be cared for by a trained 
deaconess, who is also the depositary of sundry 
medical stores supplied by Her Majesty for the 
use of the villagers. 

Every year, on the Sunday before the departure 
of Their Majesties from Rominten, a small festivity 
taking the form of a children's tea is given here 



272 MEMORIES OF TPIE KAISER'S COURT 

by the Emperor and Empress, and His Majesty 
may be seen in his green uniform, distributing 
hunks of cake to each sunburnt child ; and when 
their wants are temporarily satisfied, nothing 
pleases him better than to thrust huge slabs of 
sticky currant buns into the unwilling hands of 
the attendant ladies and gentlemen, who, receiving 
the unwelcome gift with a forced smile, take an 
early opportunity of surreptitiously slipping it 
back into the tray whence it was taken. 

On the occasion of one of these teas a small 
boy of six, thirsting for notoriety, barred the 
Emperor's path at the moment when he was on 
the point of leaving the feast to step into the 
hunting- cart waiting outside with keeper and 
guns to take him to a part of the forest some miles 
away, where a lordly '' eighteen-ender " was wont 
to browse at sunset. 

This child, who possessed a phenomenal memory, 
burst into the recital of a poem, to which the 
Emperor, expecting every line to be the last, lent 
at first a sufiiciently attentive ear ; but as time 
went on, the poetic effusion, which described with 
unnecessary wealth of detail the events of the 
recently celebrated Silver Wedding of Their 
Majesties, seemed to expand its scope and gather 
strength and volume with each succeeding verse, 
while the Empress, aware of the portentous length 
of this rhyming masterpiece, tried to stem the 
flood of poetry by suggesting that the rest might 
be said another time. 

But the sturdy young peasant, completely 
absorbed in his task, continued relentlessly, in 
his broad East-Prussian accent, his eyes faithfully 



THE KAISER AND KAISERIN 273 

fixed on the toes of the Emperor's boots. His 
Majesty, hke the Wedding-Guest, " could not 
choose but hear," and if he did not hsten hke a 
three-years child, at any rate bore manfully with 
the ceaseless monotone. At last it suddenly 
descended two tones, stopped, and with a wooden 
bow the young reciter concluded his stupendous 
effort, and his Imperial auditor, throwing thanks 
and praise over his shoulder, went off to deal 
with the stag, while the small boy retired shame- 
facedly into the crowd covered with glory and 
stuffed with cake. 

The indefatigable deaconess had trained ten 
small boys to form a guard of honour and to 
present arms and go through certain military 
exercises whenever Royalty appeared, one tiny 
fellow performing laboriously on a very inadequate 
drum the while. When the Emperor came in 
sight they always went through all these evolutions, 
Prdsentirt das Gewehr, Gewehr ab, and so on, the 
small Unter-Offizier , aged seven, giving his orders 
with the greatest coolness and precision. 

The German Empress has always played a 
somewhat subordinate role, but it is unnecessary 
to deduce from this obvious fact the idea that 
she is a nonentity or a mere Haus-frau, because 
Her Majesty is nothing of the kind, but a woman 
with wide interests, who from morning till night 
is occupied with social schemes for the betterment 
of the people. 

Of her it may be said, as Thackeray wrote of 
Lady Castlewood, " It is this lady's disposition 
to think kindnesses, and devise silent bounties, 
and to scheme benevolence for those about her. . . . 



274 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

To be doing good for some one else is the life of 
most good women. They are exuberant of kind- 
ness, as it were, and must impart it to some one 
else." 

And if kindness is the most conspicuous trait 
in the Empress's character, it is a kindness directed 
into many useful public channels, finding an outlet 
in worthy objects, in social service, and much 
arduous work for the help and uplifting of man- 
kind. 

It is safe to say that perhaps no other woman 
in the world would have been so admirably suited 
to the Emperor's varying moods, to his suddenness, 
his volcanic outbursts of energy. In the presence 
of her husband she is self-sacrificing, self-effacing, 
but when apart from him shows plenty of initiative 
and self-confidence. 

For the first twenty years of her married life 
she was occupied in the care of her children, but 
by no means entirely absorbed by them, for she 
has always been deeply interested in problems of 
poverty and disease, and in the nurture of children, 
and has thrown all her influence in the scale 
against that excessive exploitation of the childish 
brain against which modern scientists are now 
upraising their voices. She is not at all pleased 
when poor little nervous children are thrust 
forward to recite poetry to her ; she much 
prefers a bunch of flowers and something frankly 
childish, like the greeting of the small maiden 
who, having totally forgotten the speech she was 
to make, and finding the Empress so different 
from what she expected, just said shortly, employ- 
ing to the horror of her parents the familiar Du : 



THE KAISER AND KAISERIN 275 

" You're the Empress, art^n't you ? I'm Anna 
Kruger. Here, these llowers are for you." And 
the unabashed infant tlirust her flowers into the 
hand of the Empress, turned her back and toddled 
off. 

All the public hospitals of Berlin are under the 
direct superintendence and control of the Empress, 
who, as the wife of an autocratic monarch, pos- 
sesses much more direct authority than most 
Queen-consorts. Her interest in them is practical 
and thorough. She allows no alteration in con- 
struction, no building to be done, without going 
into the domestic side of the project. She knows 
where cupboards are necessary, where doors will 
save needless footsteps to and fro ; she realizes 
the needs of women, too apt to be ignored where 
men alone arrange their treatment. She is in- 
defatigable in trying to spread knowledge of the 
care of children among poor women, often so 
deplorably ignorant of what they most need to 
know. She detests the German method of placing 
men almost entirely in charge of girls' schools ; 
she has fought with some success against this 
masculine assumption of authority, nowhere car- 
ried so far as in the Fatherland, where little girls 
may be daily seen taking their walks in Berlin 
under the charge of a solemn young man in 
spectacles. 

The Empress is tall and well-made, and her 
hair turned white at a very early age— chiefly, say 
those people who have an explanation for every- 
thing, because of her grief that her only daughter 
was born deaf and dumb ! This popular myth 
has naturally fitted in nicely with the white hair, 



276 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

so that it is almost a pity that it has no thread of 
truth upon which to hang. In any case, the white 
hair is very becoming to the statuesque dignity 
of the Empress, who grows year by year more 
impressive, more stately. 

Her Majesty's chief recreation, the one in which 
she most delights, is riding. Every day, if possible, 
she takes a brisk canter of an hour or two. She 
also plays a good deal of lawn-tennis — although 
during the last year her health has not permitted 
her to indulge quite so often in this game. 

Her reading consists largely of historical memoirs, 
which interest her deeply ; but she has not a mind 
quickly receptive of new ideas — would perhaps be 
a little narrowly intolerant if she were not pre- 
vented by her essential kindness of heart. Her 
chief talent has always been the creation of an 
atmosphere of home for her husband and children, 
no light task amid the rigid officialism of a court. 
She has been heard to relate how once, when 
not feeling very well, she sent to the kitchen for 
some tea at the unorthodox hour of ten o'clock 
at night, and was told that to carry out such an 
order was impossible ; there was no provision for 
making tea at ten, only at five or in the morning 
from eight to nine. So the Empress went without 
her tea. The next morning the Haus-Marshall 
requested Her Majesty in future, whenever she 
might need tea at ten o'clock, to give orders for 
it before five, because all the cooks went home 
at that hour. The Empress at once took steps 
to enable herself or any one else in the palace to 
obtain tea at any hour they might need it. 

She is an industrious needlewoman, and very 



THE KAISKR AND KAISERIN 277 

much dislikes to sit and talk without having some 
work to do, declaring that constant occupation 
of the fingers is very restful to the nerves; and 
when the old Court doctor remonstrates that she 
never allows herself to rest, smiles and shakes her 
head at him and says quietly, " Oh, you men do 
not understand." 

The Emperor of late years always lies down 
and rests for an hour or two in the afternoon, but 
no efforts have ever been successful in making 
Her Majesty do the same. Up early in the morn- 
ings to ride with her husband, walking with him 
before breakfast, standing more or less all day, 
and often up to a very late hour of the evening 
especially in the season, it is surprising how the 
Empress has been able always to fulfil without 
fail her varied duties, often at the expense of 
much bodily weariness and effort. 

Once at Konigsberg, where the Imperial couple 
had come for some special festivities, after a 
day and a night's travelling in the train, she 
found herself so utterly overcome with fatigue 
that at three o'clock in the afternoon she felt 
that unless she obtained some rest before night 
she must inevitably break down, for a large dinner 
was to take place in the evening with a reception 
to follow. But all round the old Konigsberg 
Schloss was gathered an enthusiastic crowd cheer- 
ing and calling for the Empress, who at last went 
out on to the balcony, and, holding up her hand 
for silence, addressed them to the following effect : 

" Good people, — I thank you for your kind 
reception, but for the next two hours it is neces- 
sary for me to have some rest, so I ask you to go 



278 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

away and leave me in peace until five, when you 
may come again." She then retired, and the 
people melted away, and for a space there was 
silence. 

When Her Majesty cruises in her yacht, the 
Iduna, off the coast of Schleswig-Holstein, and 
lies up in port for the night, every patriotic soul 
within a radius of thirty miles is smitten with 
the selfsame idea — to come and serenade Her 
Majesty till the small hours with the selfsame 
song, " Schleswig-Holstein sea-engirdled." 

" Mamma and I are perfectly sick of that song," 
said the Princess. '' People came and rowed round 
the Iduna and yelled it into the port-holes while 
we were dressing and while we dined, and when 
we came on deck there it was again, and when one 
lot had finished another lot came and began all 
over again. It was truly awful." 

In Germany everybody yearns to sing before 
Royalty. In Wilhelmshohe one enterprising lady 
who, as one of the princes remarked, " thought 
more of her voice than it deserved," hid herself 
behind a bush in the public part of the park, and 
when Her Majesty came walking unsuspectingly 
in that direction to enjoy the cool evening hour 
in company with her children, the lady burst into 
impassioned song and shook out of herself torrents 
of trills and elaborate shakes into the darkness. 

The evenings at Neues Palais in the winter-time 
were usually very quiet. After supper the Em- 
press and her ladies with their needlework would 
sit round the big table of one of the salons, while 
the Emperor looked at the /English papers spread 
about, or, as often happened, read extracts from 



THE KAISKR AND KAISKIUN 279 

them aloud, lie usually wore glasses when 
reading, and was very fond of Punch, especially 
of the political cartoons, in which he so frequently 
figured under the guise of a sea-serpent, an 
organ-grinder, or his imperial self, with ex- 
aggerated moustaches and portentous frown. I 
always tried to hide Punch when it was my 
turn downstairs. His Majesty liked to thrust 
these embarrassing pictures under my nose. 

" What d'you think of that ? " he would say. 
" Nice, isn't it ? Good likeness, eh ? " It was 
often difficult to find a suitable answer on the 
spur of the moment. 

Somewhere about ten o'clock the Empress 
would rise and depart, followed by the ladies, 
who all turned and made a curtsy to the Emperor 
as they went past, he regarding them with a 
rather mocking, quizzical gaze. When the Em- 
peror was away, the ladies often dined upstairs 
in the apartment of the Empress, and sat after- 
wards in her private salon, one of the loveliest 
rooms in the Palace, all pale yellow satin and 
silver mouldings. 

Until his marriage the Crown Prince was a 
very frequent visitor at the New Palace, usually 
staying there at Christmas and other times of 
festivity. He is the only one of the princes 
enjoying the title of Imperial Highness, his 
brothers and sister being only Royal Highnesses. 

At the time of the death of the Emperor 
Frederick and his father's accession to the throne 
as William II. the young prince was only seven 
years old. 

So that no invidious distinction could be made 



280 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

between himself and his brothers, the title of 
Crown Prince was not used until he was eighteen 
years of age, and the little boy was so unconscious 
of his right to the title that when he heard that 
one of the officers had been promoted, and was 
asked to guess what he had now become, he said 
with a delighted smile, " Perhaps he's been made 
Crown Prince." 

He is, as every one knows, a young man who 
has devoted much time to sport, and, like his father, 
has many spheres of activity, having written a 
book, visited India, and made some good and a few 
unwise speeches. He is an ardent soldier and a 
typical Hohenzollern, with supreme confidence in 
the star of his family, and earnestly desires to 
live his life in his own way, to move with the 
times, to be a child of his century ; and it is pro- 
bable that with a little more experience of life, 
especially perhaps of that discipline of sorrow 
which initiates most men into a new sphere of 
thought, he will develop into the man the world 
hopes to see in him — something steadfast and 
strong, and perhaps a little more silent. At 
present he is very good-natured, very kind, very 
crude in his ideas, very young for his age, very 
self-confident and rather selfish, as the modern 
type of young man is apt to be. He is popular 
in Potsdam, where he picks up little boys for 
rides on his charger as he comes home from 
drill, flings gold pieces abroad to poverty-stricken 
people, gives lifts in his motor-car to weary men 
on the road. He has all that facile, democratic, 
easy generosity which wins popularity, and pos- 
sesses great charm of manner together with a 



THE KAISER AND KAISERIN 281 

hatred of coercion and restraint. Probably some 
recent outbreaks have been due to a desire to 
show his independence of mind, a yearning to 
cast off conventional shackles and to say what 
lie thinks. 

He still has a good deal of the schoolboy in 
his composition, although since his marriage he 
has given up his favourite pastime of sliding 
down staircase banisters. 

But it is not so long since, when he and 
his family were living in the Stadt-Schloss at 
Potsdam, one wet day when entertainment was 
hard to find, he had the happy idea of amusing 
his children by taking their tiny S hetland pony 
upstairs to the nursery. 

The pony had first to be fetched by the Crown 
Prince and his adjutant from the stables of the 
Marmor Palais, and was with difficulty dragged 
and pushed into the automobile, where, in a 
state of abject terror, it protested all the way 
against its abduction. 

When they arrived at the Stadt-Schloss the 
pony was led or rather hauled bodily up the stairs, 
and was so unnerved by its experiences that its 
behaviour on arriving in the nursery scared the 
little princes into tears, and they begged for 
the pony to be taken away again, howling without 
intermission until the poor animal was, with 
difficulty, removed. 



CHAPTER XV 

CONCLUSION 

THE Emperor William has a great horror 
of every possible kind of infection, es- 
pecially of the ordinary cold. 

Unhappy officials summoned to Court while 
suffering from this minor ailment may be seen 
using surreptitious pocket-handkerchiefs behind 
the kindly shelter of a palm, or slipping through 
the window on to the terrace to indulge in the 
inevitable sneeze out of range of His Majesty's 
observation. 

Whenever the Emperor himself catches the 
complaint he at once retires to bed till the worst 
is over, and all engagements are cancelled until 
he is well again. 

" Go to bed and perspire" (only he uses a more 
forcible Anglo-Saxon word) is the advice he gives 
and follows. 

Upon the shoulders of his medical attendants, 
two in number, rests the responsibility of safe- 
guarding the Emperor as much as possible from 
every source of infection. 

How many panic-stricken exits from one palace 
to another do I remember ! Flights at an hour's 
notice from measles, chicken-pox, or scarlet fever, 
sometimes only to meet an equally dire disease 
already installed before us. 

282 



CONCLUSION 288 

On one occasion the Court had just returned 
from Berhn after the season, and had settled down 
comfortably at the New Palace, when some tire- 
some child in the Communs opposite was found 
to be suffering from measles, and we were all 
(with the exception of the Emperor, fortunately 
absent for two days) hurried off to the M armor 
Palais, which happened to be totally unfurnished, 
all its chairs and tables having been warehoused 
for the winter and not yet replaced. 

We wandered about the garden there, watching 
the arrival of the vans, which had been hastily 
summoned together, and now slowly and at long 
intervals disgorged their contents at every door. 

The rooms allotted to the ladies were in a 
little Dutch cottage in the garden, and contained 
only a few clothes-pegs, on which to hang hats 
and coats. By slow degrees washstands, chairs, 
wardrobes, kept slowly filtering in -though 
many of us had to wash our hands at the tap 
in the passage before going to dine with the 
Empress. 

Somewhere about ten o'clock at night the beds 
began to arrive, and for the next few days exis- 
tence partook largely of the disjointed, uncertain, 
intermittent nature of a picnic. Except for the 
moral support afforded b}^ the white kid gloves 
and fan, to which we clung convulsively through 
that long chaos, we should with difficulty have 
been able to preserve the decent atmosphere proper 
to a court. 

Another sudden exodus occurred once, when 
the whole Court, including the Emperor, were for 
the first time installed for the winter in Belle Vue, 



284 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

with its charming garden, which had been recom- 
mended by the doctors as a salutary change from 
the Schloss in the Lust-Garten, which possesses 
only a few sooty trees on a grass plot two 3^ards 
square. 

Everybody was delighted with the innovation, 
and the last dresses were being hung in the ward- 
robes, the finishing touches given to the delight- 
fully quaint, sunny little freshly -painted rooms 
overlooking the green Tier-Garten, when a rumour 
ran shuddering through the palace. We were to 
pack up at once and return to the gloomy old 
Schloss at the other end of the town. Prince 
Oskar, just returned from Italy, had developed 
chicken-pox — that very catching illness — and was 
to remain in Belle Vue with his adjutant and 
servants, while the rest of us migrated elsewhere. 

So all the luggage had to be re-packed, and 
before evening we had retired from the chicken-pox, 
only to find that after all it had come with us — 
for the young Princess Alexandra of Schleswig- 
Holstein, who was staying at the Court, and had 
just become engaged to her cousin Prince August 
Wilhelm, the Emperor's fourth son, fell ill of the 
complaint almost immediately ; but we remained 
where we were and did not travel farther. 

Their Majesties were due to pay a visit to 
England in a few days' time, and many telegrams 
passed between the two countries, the Prussian 
Court fearing to bring the chicken-pox with them, 
while the English one implored them to come all 
the same, as nobody there was the least afraid of 
it. The upshot was that the visit was paid, the 
Germans spending an apprehensive week in Eng- 



CONCLUSION 286 

land, always on the alert for symptoms which 
happily never appeared. 

Some time afterwards, the Empress in dis- 
cussing this outbreak of chicken-pox remarked 
that she had not been at all anxious about any one 
but the lilmperor. It was entirely for his sake 
that the doctors had thought it well to move from 
Belle-Vue. 

" No, not at all," vehemently spoke His Majesty, 
who happened to overhear what his wife said. 
" I had chicken-pox long ago when I was a boy. 
I wasn't at all afraid of it." 

" But Wilhelm ! " said the astonished Empress, 
" I never knew. Why didn't you say so then ? " 

" Nobody asked me," said the Emperor grimly ; 
" the doctors ordered us off, and there was the 
end of it. They never told me that it was on my 
account. I thought that yoti were afraid of it." 

This is the kind of thing that is apt to occur 
when people try to be a little too tactful. 

" I don't know," said the Princess, " why we fly 
about so much trying to run away from various 
diseases ; we must be always meeting and swallow- 
ing microbes." 

In Berlin during the wet weather the Emperor 
with difficulty can get the exercise he needs. He 
has had a covered tennis-court built in the grounds 
of Mon-Bijou Schloss, a short five minutes' walk 
from the palace on the Lust-Garten ; and here, 
when the weather continued persistently rainy, 
His Majesty, in a frightfully overheated building, 
would play with any young officers who were 
fairly expert at the game. None of them appeared 
to enjoy the honour very much. The oppressive 



286 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

atmosphere, combined with the nervous appre- 
hension natural to the occasion — the fear lest an 
unlucky ball, with the hideous perversity of 
inanimate dumb things, might perhaps rebound 
with force against the sacred person of His Majesty 
or, as sometimes happened, fall into the midst 
of the tea-table presided over by the Empress — 
paralyzed the hand of even the least imaginative 
lieutenant. 

" I feel all unstrung and frightened," confided 
one of these unfortunate youths to me. " Sup- 
posing I happened to give His Majesty a black 
eye ? " 

" But," I objected, " nobody gets black eyes 
at tennis." 

" No, I know that, but still I'm always thinking 
it might happen ; and you know Von Braun' s 
ball went bang into the Empress's teacup and 
flung the tea all over her gown. His mother was 
in tears when she heard of it." 

As an alternative to indoor tennis, of which he 
speedily grows tired, the Emperor rides on rainy 
afternoons in the fine large Reit-Bahn or riding- 
school of the royal stables, where one of the 
regimental bands is stationed in the gallery, and 
plays the latest operatic music as His Majesty 
and the adjutants canter round. 

To the despair of the Master of the Horse he 
insists on having the Reit-Bahn also artificially 
heated. 

" The whole stable will be coughing to-morrow," 
groan the unhappy officials as they ponder on 
the evil effects upon the horses of the warm at- 
mosphere. But the Emperor likes to feel that 



CONCLUSION 287 

he is " getting rid," he says, " of :i little bit of 
myself." 

Once, as the riders were trotting round the 
Bahn, smoke was observed to be issuing from the 
coat-tails of one of the adjutants, who was carrying 
a box of matches in his pocket. This small 
incident amused the Emperor and restored his 
good-humour, always a little affected by bad 
weather. At supper he told the tale with all the 
dramatic exaggerations in which his soul delights, 
describing the young officer's phght as " painful 
in the extreme." 

Nothing pleases the Emperor more than to 
" chaff " his intimate friends about their private 
weaknesses. At Rominten he would tell inter- 
minable adventures of Admiral von Hollman — 
" Mannchen," as he used to call him — all hinging 
on this gallant old officer's knack of losing his 
umbrella and his luggage. 

" He usually arrives at a state reception without 
a helmet, or something of that kind. Left it on 
the steamer or in the train ; took it off to have 
a nap, and then forgot all about it, — and as for 
umbrellas ! He buys them now by the gross. 
Finds it cheaper ! " 

The old Admiral shakes his head, but looks a 
little guilty. 

"Yes, yes," he says dubiously: "umbrellas! 
they are — they are — a little evasive. I think of 
them all the time, and then — in a moment — they 
are gone. It is marvellous, Your Majesty, mar- 
vellous how they disappear." 

** Last Christmas," says the Emperor, speaking 
to the table at large, " the Empress gives him a 



288 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

beautiful new silk umbrella, with his name and 
address on it in large letters. What is the result ? 
He sets off home taking his umbrella with him. 
How far do you think ? " The Emperor thumps 
the table to emphasize the astonishing absent- 
mindedness of the admiral. *' Why, he actually 
leaves it in the carriage that takes him to the 
station — leaves it in the carriage — loses it in the 
first half-hour of possession." 

The Admiral wears a shame-faced smile like a 
guilty schoolboy. 

" But that wasn't the end of it, Your Majesty — 
it was found again." 

" Found again ! " shouts the Emperor, bursting 
into a roar of laughter. " Yes, you found it 
waiting for you on the doorstep when you got 
home, didn't you ? " 

Some one had seen the forsaken umbrella and 
given it to a footman travelling to Berlin by the 
same train, who had left it at the Admiral's house. 

The Emperor always talks with great energy, 
and has a habit of thrusting his face forward and 
wagging his finger when he wishes to be emphatic. 
He has a very heart}^ infectious laugh, and often 
stamps violently with one foot to show his appre- 
ciation of a joke. His characteristic attitude and 
manner of rocking incessantly from one leg to 
another and nodding his head as he talks make 
it easy to identify him in a crowd. 

Sometimes he falls into Napoleonic attitudes, 
and occasionally attempts to pinch the ear of a 
particular friend. 

On his face, whether grave or gay, stands out 
prominently the scar on his left cheek, made by 



CONCLUSION 289 

the madman who once threw at him a piece of 
an iron bar. It is not a long scar nor very dis- 
figuring, but the wound must have been fairly 
deep. An inch higher it might have done terrible 
mischief. It was dangerously near one of those 
bright blue, restless, twinkling eyes. 

Sometimes, but not frequently, the Emperor 
talks of his mother, always in terms of affectionate 
pride and appreciation. Once at supper, dis- 
cussing books, especially the books one loved as 
a child, His Majesty mentioned " Frank Fair- 
legh " as among the chief favourites of his youth. 

" I always read it aloud to Mamma while she 
was painting," he said, " and I shall never forget 
how we laughed over it together. Mamma laughed 
so much that she couldn't go on painting when 
I read that part — you remember where George 
Lawless keeps jumping over a chair to work off 
the nervous excitement while he waits for an 

answer to his proposal of marriage " and the 

Emperor describes to the assembled adjutants and 
ladies some of the humorous incidents of the book. 

The late Empress Frederick has left her mark 
everywhere in the New Palace. One of the gentle- 
men who had belonged to her household remarked 
that she was never idle, but every evening after 
dinner would sit with her writing-pad on her knee 
planning out on paper some scheme, charitable 
or otherwise, which at the moment occupied her 
attention. 

" Sometimes," he said, " she would discuss 
with me some alteration or improvement till 
perhaps twelve o'clock at night, and in the morn- 
ing at seven I would receive from her a written 

19 



290 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

statement, with all the details and directions 
worked out — all in her own writing. She must 
have written it after I left." 

The gardens and grounds of the Palace were 
enlarged and beautified under her directions, and 
the grass under the trees planted with all kinds 
of wild flowers — campanulas, forget-me-nots, he- 
paticas and primroses, which still flourish profusely. 
They are called "Empress Frederick's flowers" 
to this day by the gardeners. 

On the wall of my sitting-room at the New 
Palace was a strange-looking memorial made in 
chocolate-painted wood, commemorating the death 
of her little son Prince Sigismund, who died at 
two years of age. There was the date of his 
birth and death, and a sort of bracket which held 
two ugly flower vases. The whole erection was 
in the worst possible artistic taste, a blot on the 
room and an eyesore. It also served to per- 
petuate the name of Sterhe-Zimmer or Death- 
room, always used by the housemaids in reference 
to this apartment, which was otherwise as gay 
and sunny as any in the Palace. 

The Emperor is not unfailingly humorous and 
good-tempered, but has his human moments of 
irritability, and if he is angry or dissatisfied with 
anybody they are not long kept in doubt on 
the subject. Occasionally, like other people, he 
is unreasonable and expects impossibilities, but 
on the other hand, when his anger has passed, 
he is always willing to modify a hasty decision. 

Once he went from New Palace to Berlin for 
one night, and the stable authorities did not think 
it necessary to take over the saddle-horses for 



CONCLUSION 291 

that short period, so that when the next morning 
the Emperor gave orders for his horses to be 
ready in an hour's time the adjutants felt un- 
comfortably anxious. They gave the order, and 
prayed Providence to interpose with a thunder- 
storm, but the weather remained unusually calm 
and beautiful. By great good luck a horse-box 
was standing at the Wild-park station, close to 
the New Palace, and the horses and grooms were 
crammed into it and taken by special train to 
Berlin, the journey occupying half an hour. 
The Emperor had to complain that morning of 
the unusual slowness of his Jagers in helping 
him to dress, of their inability to find his favourite 
riding-whip, of the deliberation with which they 
brought him what he needed. 

" Are you all asleep this morning ? " he de- 
manded, unconscious of the deep-laid motive 
pervading this sluggishness. 

One of the adjutants, of a resourceful turn of 
mind, bethought him of some plans for new 
barracks which His Majesty had not yet examined, 
and he managed to interpose these plans at the 
moment when the Emperor was about to descend 
the staircase to the courtyard, in which as yet no 
welcome clatter of hoofs was to be heard. 

But at last the horses arrived, not conspicuously 
unpunctual. They had trotted rather more quickly 
than usual from the station along the Linden, but 
the Master of the Horse had saved his reputation 
for being " always on the spot when wanted." 

It is not a bed of roses to be Master of the Horse 
to the German Emperor. When the horses of 
the state carriage in which were seated Queen 



292 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

Alexandra and the Empress of Germany, frightened 
by the guns of the salute, refused to draw any 
farther, and threw the whole procession into 
momentary confusion, it was the unfortunate 
Master who had to bear the brunt of the blame. 
He was presented by the Kaiser to King 
Edward, whom he already knew, with the ac- 
companying phrase " Here's the man who made 
such a fearful bungle [hat sich hlamirt) with his 
horses." 

Evidently the Emperor thinks it better to go 
straight to the point, and that a lingering agony 
is worse than prompt dispatch. 

One of his characteristics is that he can explain 
everything to everybody ; but there is one ex- 
ception — the suffragettes. He has never been able 
to explain them. They baffle him entirely. At 
first he thought they were just disappointed 
spinsters, but in view of the number of married 
women in their ranks he was obliged to abandon 
this idea. Since then he has been groping in 
vain after a satisfactory solution. 

Some of them have been on board the Hohen- 
zollern — not uninvited ones, of course — but a few 
of the charming English and American ladies 
who come to Kiel for the yacht-racing, who 
have sat on his decks and drank his tea, have 
shocked His Majesty by revealing themselves as 
sympathizers with the feminist suffrage move- 
ment. The Emperor becomes inarticulate at such 
moments. He wants to know " what in heaven 
women want with a vote ? " 

'' We are coming to Germany soon. Your 
Majesty," smiled one fair lady, with the intrepidity 



CONCLUSION 293 

of her sex ; "we are going to help on the movement 
here." 

" Here ! There is no movement here, and if 
you begin burning houses and horsewhipping 
people in Germany, what do you think the police 
will do ? They won't send you flowers and 
newspapers and let you go free two days after- 
wards. We deal with people differently here, I 
can tell you." 

It is of no use to explain to His Majesty the 
difference between militant and non-militant suf- 
fragists. This is a distinction too subtle for his 
mind, which sees them all tarred with the same 
brush, a menace to the peace of mankind, a 
clamorous nuisance, and a disturber of settled 
convictions and ideas. 

" \\'omen should stay at home and look after 
their children," is his last word on the subject; 
and if some one points out the flaws in this remedy, 
as for instance the thousands of women who have 
no children either of their own or some one else's 
to see after, he takes refuge in ridicule. He is 
quite sure that a vote is a desperately bad thing 
for women. 

However, he allows women to be colonels, 
honorary colonels, in his army. The Empress, 
the Crown Princess, Princess Fritz, Princess 
August Wilhelm, and his young daughter, each 
have their regiments, at the head of which on 
Parade days they ride in full uniform — though a 
long riding skirt is perhaps the least practical 
military garment that can be imagined. 

The young Princess Victoria Louise, now the 
Duchess of Brunswick, received her colonelcy 



294 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

when only seventeen, a few days after her Con- 
firmation, which was the formal ending of her 
school-days — the day when German girlhood of 
whatever class renounces its childhood for ever. 

" Confirmation ! " said one rather " grumpy " 
gentleman of the court, a man of occasional cynical 
humour : "what does Confirmation mean ? Why, 
for the boys it means henceforth permission to 
smoke cigarettes ; for the girls, freedom to go to 
balls and parties — that's what Confirmation means 
in Germany." 

At the Prussian Court it signifies something 
rather strenuous, and all HohenzoUern Princes 
and Princesses are strictly prepared for it some 
months beforehand by the Court Chaplain. It 
is considered to be a very solemn moment of 
their lives, and at the ceremony each one of 
them must read aloud before the assembled con- 
gregation a Glauhens-Bekenntniss or Confession 
of Faith, a declaration of their religious belief, 
written by themselves, together with their views 
of what that belief implies as to the guidance of 
their future lives. It is a very impressive, almost 
a painful ceremony, this effort of these unformed 
boys and girls to give expression to their idea of 
how to shape their future worthily. 

The day before the Confirmation, the candidate 
is examined in religious knowledge by the Chaplain, 
the Emperor and Empress being the only other 
persons present. 

All the near relatives come to the ceremony ; 
and one very notable old lady was conspicuous 
at the^ confirmation of the Princess. This was 
the venerable widowed Grand-Duchess Louise 



CONCLUSION 295 

of Baden — " Aunty Baden," as she is known in 
the family. 

Daughter of the old Emperor, sister of the 
Emperor Frederick, mother of the present Queen 
of Sweden, this grey-haired, straight-backed old 
lady is a true Hohenzollern in character, of 
decided opinions and a restless, energetic mind. 
She still pays frequent visits to Berlin, occupying 
a suite of rooms in the palace of her late father 
overlooking the Linden, where the blind of one 
window remains permanently drawn, reminding 
the passer-by of the old monarch who daily stood 
there — as he once laughingly remarked, " because 
'Cook' says I am there and we mustn't dis- 
appoint the tourists" — to salute the Castle guard 
as it passed up to its barracks. 

" Aunty Baden " has no pity for modern nerves 
and modern fatigue. She belongs to the old 
school, to an age of tough fibre. At the opening 
of the Kaiser- Frederick-Museum, when a statue 
to the Emperor Frederick was also unveiled, 
this indomitable old lady examined everything 
with a fresh, vital curiosity which baffled 
fatigue, insisted on penetrating into every room, 
and studying the remotest Greco-Assyrian sculp- 
tures with the liveliest interest. Hardly a 
single scarab or the smallest picture escaped 
her notice. 

When the Empress suggested that it was getting 
late, and that the crowd of Princes and Princesses 
who had assisted at the ceremony were very 
tired and hungry, she only turned with renewed 
zest to an adjoining gallery. 

" Oh, here are a quantity of beautiful things ! 



296 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

We must look at these before we go ! See how 
interesting ! " 

Everybody else was bored to extinction and 
fainting for lack of sustenance, the time for 
luncheon being long passed; but the old lady 
continually made new discoveries, and was with 
the greatest difficulty at last induced by the 
Emperor to return to the Schloss. 

On the Confirmation-Day of the Princess the 
Grand-Duchess appeared in the Friedens-Kirche — 
the Church of Peace, built in the lovely gardens of 
Sans Souci, where the Emperor and Empress 
Frederick lie buried — leaning on the arm of her 
nephew the Emperor William, who treats her 
always with the greatest devotion and respect. 

She had laid aside the black dress she usually 
wears, and appeared clothed completely in creamy 
white, a long white veil falling behind almost to 
the hem of her dress. 

All the old teachers and servants who had 
ever been connected in the shghtest degree with 
the Princess were invited to the church. The 
old Sattel-Meister — long retired from service — who 
first placed her on her pony, her former tutors 
and governesses, as well as the Stifts-Kinder, 
grown up now and done with black uniforms 
and tight hair for ever — all were there. 

The Lutheran service is extremely simple, and 
the Chaplain's address and the reading of the 
"Confession" occupied the chief part of the 
time. In, an hour it was over. 

The Emperor was extremely pleased with the 
way in which his daughter acquitted herself. 

** She is a chip of the old block, isn't she?" 



CONCLUSION 297 

he said proudly, talking about the way in which 
she read her Gknibcns-Bckenntniss. " It was like 
a Kavallcrie-Aitackc " — the military comparison 
did not appear to strike him as out of place — " so 
direct and forcible; couldn't have been better." 

Perhaps the Emperor's martial comment was 
caused by his knowledge that in four days' time 
he proposed to make his daughter Colonel of the 
second Hussars, stationed at Danzig, the regiment 
of which his mother, the Empress Frederick, had 
also been colonel. On the birthday of the Em- 
press, October 22, the news was announced. 

A rumour of the event had taken wind, but the 
strictest secrecy was enjoined, and the necessary 
saddlery and, still more important, the necessary 
feminine uniform had been all prepared, the 
latter without any " trying on." 

It took three maids, several ladies, and at the 
last moment the patient ministrations and advice 
of the Emperor's Leib-Jdger, to get the Princess 
satisfactorily into that uniform. 

It was fearfully tight under the arms and round 
the neck, and the new patent-leather boots 
pinched horribly, so that the radiant glow of 
satisfaction in the glory and honour of wearing 
it was tinctured with some pain and discomfort, 
for the day was unusually warm, almost oppres- 
sive, and the heavy cloth loaded with astrachan, 
the hot fur cap with its skull and cross-bones 
(the emblem which gives the regiment its name, 
the Toten-Kopf or Death' s-Head Hussars) com- 
bined with the cumbersome habit-skirt, weighted 
the Princess almost beyond endurance. 

All the officers of the regiment had travelled 



298 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

from distant Danzig, a twelve hours' journey, 
to be presented to their new colonel ; and the 
Empress's birthday table, with the usual dozen 
of new hats, received hardly any attention at all, 
every one being absorbed in the " new recruit " 
to His Majesty's forces. 

"She will ride at the head of the first regiment 
that invades England," said the Emperor gaily 
to me. 

" Yes, I hope so. Then we shall be delighted 
to see it," was the only possible answer I could 
find. 

" Oh yes ! You will receive her with open 
arms, no doubt," he laughed, but looked as though 
he were not quite sure of the matter. 

But when his daughter the following year 
accompanied her parents to England for the un- 
veiling of the Queen Victoria Memorial, although 
she did not arrive at the head of her regiment, she 
nevertheless managed to subjugate and be sub- 
jugated by that portion of England which came 
within her sphere of influence. 

Her impressions of her week in London, a city 
she had expected to find wrapt in impenetrable 
fog, but which remained, with the exception of a 
few showers, bathed in sunshine all the time of 
her visit, were joyous in the extreme. 

The soldiers, especially the Highlanders walking 
with that peculiarly characteristic, proud, delightful 
swagger, the rhythmic swing of their kilts, the 
skirl of their bagpipes, thrilled her with delight. 

"Your soldiers are wonderful," she said; "I 
never thought they were like that. Every private 
walks hke an officer." 




THK I:MI'KK0K-.S D.MViHTKK. TAKKX ON THK DAY WHKN SHK W \S 
\I\r>K COl.OXKI. OK THK DKATM'S HKAr) HTSSAKS 



CONCLUSION 299 

She thouglit the " Mihtary Tournament " the 
most deHghtful entertainment she had ever seen, 
and was intensely amused at " Arthur's Arabs," 
the soldiers of the regiment of Prince Arthur of 
Connaught, who, disguised in burnous and appro- 
priate head-gear and jabbering a jargon of their 
own invention, interspersed with weird shrieks 
and gestures, imposed themselves on a portion 
of the unsuspecting British public as " the real 
article" from somewhere in the neighbourhood 
of Algiers, and accomplished their tent-pegging 
to the accompaniment of blood-curdling and ear- 
piercing yells. 

When the Emperor and Empress went with 
the King and Queen to spend the afternoon at 
Windsor Castle, King George sent all the German 
servants and footmen, under the guidance of some 
of his own English servants, to see this same 
Military Tournament, at which they were much 
delighted — for, as a rule, it is very difficult for 
people in attendance on travelling royalties to get 
any but a very cursory glimpse of the countries 
W'here they are staying. They returned glowing 
with enthusiasm and full of interest in what they 
had seen. 

"So etwas Jiaheyi wir nicht in Detdschland " 
{We have nothing like that in Germany), said 
one Diener to me with a certain quaint surprise ; 
"it is very amusing, very interesting, but what 
is the use of it ? We should not let our army 
waste its time dancing quadrilles with four-horse 
guns." 

I explained to the best of my ability that the 
tournament was a charitable affair and helped to 



300 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

get money for soldiers' orphans, also that the 
gun evolutions were really only a modification 
of real military tactics. He seemed hardly con- 
vinced, however, and in spite of his loudly expressed 
pleasure in the spectacle, still continued doubtful 
as to its relative utility. 

If one may judge from the occasional bits of 
gossip which float upwards from " below stairs," 
rather humorous situations sometimes arise be- 
tween the servants of royalty belonging to different 
nationalities. When King George and Queen 
Mary paid their last visit to Berlin, on the occasion 
of the marriage of the Emperor's daughter, two 
English waiting-maids were taken for a drive 
in Potsdam by a kindly German maid anxious 
to show some polite attention to the visitors. 
She however complained bitterly on her return of 
the severely patriotic attitude of the two British 
ladies, who, whatever they were shown, compared 
it detrimentally to something else in England; 
and when the German pointed out, as a possible 
object of interest, the large hangar built for the 
accommodation of Zeppelin's air-ship, ostenta- 
tiously turned away their heads and looked in 
another direction, finding nothing more gracious 
to say than that they were " very pleased that 
the air-ship had descended by mistake into 
French territory ! " Happily such rigidly uncom- 
promising souls are rarely found at Court. 

From her earliest years, projects for the marriage 
of the Kaiser's daughter had been continually 
discussed, and as she grew older every eligible 
prince in Europe — with the exception of the 
one she eventually married — was cited as a 



CONCLUSION 801 

possible husband. The Kings of Spain and Portu- 
gal were for some time hot favourites ; and when 
' the former young monarch, before his marriage, 
paid a visit of several days to the New Palace, all 
the newspapers, taking no account of differences 
of age and religion, were naturally quite certain 
that they had run to ground the future bridegroom 
of the Princess, then only fourteen years of age. 

The King was, in spite of the fact that he has 
no pretensions to beauty, an extremely attractive 
personality, and he and the Princess were the best 
of friends, having a similarity of tastes in jokes 
and a mutual passion for horses. When the King 
shot his first stag in the Wildpark he gallantly 
presented her with his Spruch or trophy of leaves, 
which remained as an ornament of her sitting- 
room until the announcement of his engagement 
to Princess Ena of Battenberg, when the Spruch, 
which had been disintegrating leaf by leaf, finally 
disappeared. 

Of all possible marriages, that which the Kaiser's 
daughter eventually made was the last that 
any one would have dared to prophesy, so utterly 
improbable did it appear. The Duke of Cumber- 
land, father of the bridegroom, had from child- 
hood been the implacable enemy of the Prussian 
Royal House and Government. All attempts of the 
Emperor to bring about a reconciliation had failed. 

With almost monotonous regularity the news- 
papers would announce from time to time the 
approaching meeting of the Emperor with the 
Duke, and vnth equal certainty a paragraph would 
appear next day announcing the latter' s depar- 
ture from the scene of the projected rendezvous 



302 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

" a few hours before His Majesty's arrival." The 
name of "The Vanishing Duke" became pecu- 
liarly appropriate, and the feud appeared to have 
settled down into that hopeless state where every 
effort at reconciliation has been exhausted, and 
nothing remains to be done. 

Many brilliant statesmen and crowned heads 
had to retire baffled after frequent praiseworthy 
but ineffective efforts, until at last those two great 
factors in the affairs of the world. Death and 
Love, intervened. 

The Duke's eldest son, travelling in his motor- 
car through Germany on his way to the funeral 
of his uncle the King of Denmark, met his death 
by an accident in a lonely part of the road, lay 
for a time unrecognized, and then, his identity 
becoming known, the Emperor sent off his son. 
Prince Eitel Fritz, with instructions to render 
all possible help in the distressing circumstances. 
The body of the young prince for two nights 
remained in the little village church near the 
place where the accident happened, guarded by 
Prussian soldiers and the two sons of the Kaiser — 
for the Crown Prince, whose wife's brother is 
married to a daughter of the Duke, was also sent 
by the Emperor to do what he could to soften 
the sad tragedy. They watched all night by the 
coffin and escorted it on its way to burial. 

A few weeks afterwards, Ernest Augustus, the 
second son of the Duke, by his brother's death 
become heir to the family feud, came on his father's 
behalf to thank the Emperor for his sympathy 
and aid in their sorrow. For the first time in 
their lives he and the Kaiser's daughter met, 




IHK DIKK .\N1> Die HKSS OF liRUXSWICK 



CONCLUSION 803 

spent an hour or so in each other's company, 
and then, his mission fuhiUed, he departed again. 
But a new element had been introduced into the 
quarrel : so strong was the mutual attraction felt 
by the two young people for each other that, in 
spite of the short time of their meeting, in spite 
of the tremendous prejudices and difficulties in 
the way, they at last wore down the opposition 
and conquered the accumulated hate of years. 
What the most practised diplomats failed to 
achieve, this boy and girl accomplished, and at 
last, through many troubles, delays, and vexations, 
won their way to their hearts' desire. 

On the evening of the wedding of the Princess 
with Prince Ernest of Cumberland, now Duke of 
Brunswick, at the beginning of the historic Torch 
Dance which concludes the ceremonies, the radiant 
bride, taking her father by one hand and the 
Duke of Cumberland by the other, walked between 
them round the hall to the sound of the stately 
bridal music. 

It was a happy symbol, the erstwhile enemies 
linked together by the Kaiser's daughter, a visible 
sign of the alleviation, if not quite the ending, of 
a situation which had for long years galled and 
irritated the German people. 

Now, with the departure of his youngest child, 
the last one left at home, the private Hfe of the 
Kaiser's Court has grown in these later days 
somewhat still and a trifle lonely. There is as 
yet no little girl among the children of the Crown 
Prince to take even partially the place of the one 
who has gone away, the one who was her father's 
particular companion and pride. 



304 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 

The Bauern Haus is closed, the Prinzen Wohnung 
shut up. 

"It is really quite sad," wrote recently a lady 
of the Court, '' to see all those apartments de- 
serted and locked up, the curtains drawn across 
the windows, no movement or life where formerly 
there was so much. Christmas was strange 
indeed without our Princess. We all felt it like 
a shadow over the festivities. We seemed to 
feel that we were getting old." 

And the Emperor, who in his private friendships 
has undergone many disappointments and dis- 
illusions, becomes increasingly conscious of the 
soul solitude brought by advancing years. 

Yet, though suffering from occasional moods 
of depression, he faces the future with confidence 
in the destiny of his house. 

Among his later literary admirations Kipling's 
poem "If" holds first place. A copy hangs 
above his writing-table ; he quotes it frequently 
to his sons, and translates it into terse and ex- 
pressive German for the benefit of his adjutants. 
It embodies his own experience of Life, crystallises 
his own aspirations. He too has always been 
anxious 

" to fill the unforgiving minute 
With sixty-seconds' worth of distance run." 



INDEX 



Adalbert, Prince of Prussia, 57 ; 

his fiincy-dress ball, 203 
Africa, German, 59, 214 
Albany, Duchess of, 68 
Alexander of Teck, Princess, 68, 

71 

Alexandra, Queen, 87, 292 

Alexandria, the Emperor's river- 
steamer, 215 

Amber, 97, 232 

Aosta, Duchess of, 193 

Apollo-Saal, 57 

Aubade of court ladies and gentle- 
men, 197 

Augitsta-Stift, 129 

Augusta Victoria, German Em- 
press, adventure in Konigs- 
berg, 256; appearance, per- 
sonal, 275 ; audience, 9 ; birth- 
day, 121 ; Christmas gifts, 89, 
97 ; cruise on the Iduna, 233, 
278; fall from horse, 219; 
Irish apron, 90 ; interest in 
social schemes, 273 ; recrea- 
tions, 276 ; speech at Konigs- 
berg, 277 ; treats to school- 
children, 239, 271 ; unmarried 
sister, 173 

August Wilhelm, Prince of Prus- 
sia, 57 

Baden, Louise, Grand Duchess of, 

294 
Ballin, head of Hamburg-America 

line of steamships, 268 
Balls, State, 123 ; fancy-dress, 

203 
Baltic Sea, 231 
Bauern Haus, 106, 163 
Bernstein, 97, 232 
Beschcrung, 95, 10 1 
Bilder-Galerie, 191 
Bismarck, Prince, 217 
Black Forest, 138 

20 30 s 



Boer War, 58 

Bonaparte, Jerome, King of West- 
phalia, 206 

Bonaparte, Napoleon, 266 

Books for boys in Germany, 35 

Dornstcdter-Feld, 60 

Bomstedter-Gut, 174 

Brandenburger-Tor, 188 

Bride's garter, 196 

Brunswick, Duke of, 303 

Butchers of Berlin escort royal 
brides, 189 

Cadinen, 222 

Cambridge, Duke of, 37, 108 
Carol-singing, 93 
Cassel, 203 

Cecile, Crown Princess of Ger- 
many, 185, 199 
Chapel at Wilhelmshohe, 205 

— gallery, Berlin, 117 
Chicken-pox, 285 
Chocolate antiques, 28 
Circus, Busch's, 82 
" Communs," 49 
Concert, State, 119 
Connaught, Prince Arthur of, 

193. 299 
Copernicus, 234, 236 
Corfu, 80 
Cromwell, 266 
Cronberg, 18 
Cumberland, Duke of, 301 

Dantzig, 229 

— Gulf of, 223 
Defilir-Cour, 194 
Diamonds, German, 215 
Divining-rod, 214 
Dohna of Schlobitten, Prince, 250 
Droschky-driver, 219 

Easter-eggs, 126 

Edward VII, King, 87, 292 



306 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 



Elbing, 224 

Elk, 247, 254 

Ena, Princess of Battenbcrg, 301 

Esmarck, Professor von, 31 

Eulenburg, Prince Philip, 249 

Feodora, Princess of Schleswig- 

Holstein, 173 
Ferry, Sacrow, 217 
Feud between Guelph and Hohen- 

zollern, 301 
Forest, Rominten, 247 
Frauenburg, 234, 236 
Frederick, Prince of Prussia 

(Prince "Fritz"), playing 

hockey, 72 ; wedding, 197 
Frederick Charles of Hesse, Prin- 
cess, 18 
Frederick, Empress, her practical 

mind, 48 ; reading with her 

son, 289; power of work, ib.; 

flowers and memorial to Prince 

Sigismund, 290 
Frederick the Great, Sans Souci, 

63 ; his harpsichord and books 

in the New Palace, 202 
Frederick William, German Crown 

Prince, plays hockey, 70 ; at 

Ploen, 156 ; his marriage, 185 ; 

his firstborn, 199; his tastes 

and character, 280 
Frisches Haff, 223, 229 
Fruhstiicks-tafel, 57 
Furstenburg, Max Egon, Prince 

of, 136 

Gainsborough, 267 

Gallery, Jasper, 201 

Gallery, Picture, 191 

Garde du Corps, 195 

Geheim-Polizisten, 1 3 5 

George, Crown Prince, of Greece, 

18 
George V, King of England, 81 
Gottes-Dienst, 229 
Gratulations-Cour, 1 1 1 

Hallali, 253 

" Halloren," sausage of the, 1 14 

Hamburg-America Line, 268 

Hercules, statue of, 205 

Herero War, 59, 61 

Hesse Homburg, Landgraf of, 1 3 

Highcliffe, castle of, 264 

Hohenzollern, 292 

HoUmann, Admiral von, 287 

Hunt Dinner, 218 



Hunt Uniform, 244 

Iduna, 233 

Intendant, worries of theatre, 84 

Joachim, Prince of Prussia, 
youngest son of the Kaiser, 14, 
23. 39 

Kachel-Ofen, 50 
Kahlberg, 230 
Kiel, 203, 292 
Kinder- Fest, 239 
Kinder-Heim, 271 
Konigsberg, 256, 277 
Kronungs-Tag, 117 

Lakes, chain of, Potsdam, 215 
L4szl6, Philip von, his portraits, 

270 
Liebenberg, Schloss, 250 
Lonsdale, Lord, 139 
Louise, Queen, of Prussia, 216 
Lowther Castle, 139 
Loyalty, German, 37 

Marienburg, 234 
AI armor-Palais, 68, 199 
M armor- Seal, 79 
Marshal of the Court, 194 
Mary, Queen, of England, 81 
Master of the Horse, 291 
Matrosen-Station, 217 
Mecklenburg horses, 212 
Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Duchess 

Cecile of, 185 
Mecklenburg - Schwerin, Grand 

Duke of, 193 
Military Tournament, 299 
Muschel-Saal, 96 
Museum, Kaiser Friedrich, 295 

Napoleon I,, 266 

Napoleon III., 207 

Nelson, 267 

Neuer Garten, 64 

New Year's Eve, 1 10 

Norway, King of, 122 

Norway, Olaf , Crown Prince, of , 1 22 

Norwegian landing-stage, 215 

Oldenburg, Duchess Sophie Char- 
lotte of, 197 

Opera House, 85 

Oscar, Prince of Prussia, 71, 219 
122 



INDEX 



807 



reasant-womcn as housemaids, 

Pjauen-Insfl, 216 

Photograplis. 187 

Ploen, 78. 1 57 

roliceincn and mob, 258, 260 

Portrait-painting, 270 

Portugal, King of, 301 

Portugal. Queen Augusta Vic- 
toria of. 77 

Procession of peasants at Donau- 
Eschingen, 140 

" Pulpits" in the forest, 253 

Radaunf, the, 229 

" Railway Palace," 144 

Reit-Bahn, 75 

Residences, royal, 46 ; Belle Vue, 
115. 2^}, ; Berlin Schloss. in ; 
Cadinen. 222 ; Homburg. 4, 
22 ; Mon Bijou, 285 ; New 
Palace, 46 ; Rominten, 243 ; 
Sacrow, 217 ; Sans Souci, 63 ; 
Strasburg Schloss, 144 ; Wil- 
helmshohe, 203 ; Wilhelmsthal, 
207 

Riding in Cadinen, 237 

Rococo Period, 57 

Roman fortress, Homburg, 28 

Rominte, 246 

" Rule Britannia " in a German 
school, 160 

Rutsch-Bahn, 216 

Saalburg. 28 

Sand-Hof, 61 

Sans Souci, 63 

" Sardanapalus." 87 

Saxe-Altenburg. Prince of, 127 

Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Duke of, 

184 
Schilder-Saal, 10 1 
Schleswig-Holstein, Duchess of, 66 
Schrippen-Fest, 171 
Shah of Persia, 132 
"Sherlock Holmes," 35 
Sigismund, Prince of Prussia, son 

of the Empress Frederick, 290 
Skating. 70 
Sleighing. 124 
Spain, King Alfonso of, 309 
Speck von Sternburg, Baron, 247 
Speise-Kartf, 57 
Stifts- Kinder. 132 
Strasburg. 144 
" Strecke." the, 253 
Supper in royal train, 39, 244 



Tanz-Proben, 133 

Teutonic Knights, 234 

Theatre of Frederick tiie Great, 77 

riiimdcrstonus in Cadinen. 235 

I fiurivf^rr-H'ald, 136 

Tif-pin and studs, 260 

Tile-factory, 236 

Torch Dance, 195 

Trafalgar, 267 

" Treasure Island," 35 

Tree. Boerbohm, 83 

Tree. Viola, 83 

Trippers, fifty thousand, 109 

Tritchsess, 194 

Turkey. Sultan of, 200 

Turn Saal, yy 

Tutors, 151 

Twins, 18 

Unken, 226 

Unter den Linden, 1 1 1 

Victoria Louise, Princess of Prus- 
sia, I ; art and Herr von 
L4szI6, 270 ; birthday party, 
153; confirmation, 294, 296; 
cookery, 165 ; dancing-mis- 
tress, 123 ; donkeys, 74 ; letters 
to her father, 79 ; piano- 
playing, 81 ; pig, 67 ; ponies 
given by the Sultan. 17; 
riding, 60 ; toast for " Papa," 
251 ; sack races, 153 

Victoria Memorial, Queen, 298 

Vistula, 223 

Waiting-maids, patriotic, 300 

Weddings, royal, 184 

Weisser-Saal, no, 119, 194 

Werder, 126 

Whitsuntide at the Prussian 
Court. 171 

Wildpark, 60 

William L, German Emperor, 213, 
217 

William IT, German Emperor; 
afternoon siesta, 277 ; al fresco 
meals, 216, 217; anecdotal 
moods. 108. 287 ; anniversary 
of accession, 117; birthday, 
118; Cadinen, 223; carol- 
singing, 104 ; censorship of 
architectural plans, 269; 
chicken-pox, 284 ; children's 
guard of honour, 273 ; con- 
ducting the band, 79 ; dancing 
at court, 123 ; diamond cigar- 



808 MEMORIES OF THE KAISER'S COURT 



ette-case, 214; duties of women, 
views on, 293 ; evenings at 
home, 278 ; excursions on 
river-steamer at Potsdam, 215 ; 
family life, 16 ; fancy-dress ball 
at Kiel, 203 ; farming opera- 
tions, 67 ; hiding Easter eggs, 
127 ; horror of alcohol, 32 ; 
hunt dinner, 218 ; hunt uni- 
form, 245 ; hymn-singing, 205 ; 
inspection of troops for South- 
West Africa, 62 ; interest in 
aviation, 177, 179; in human 
nature, 133, 172 ; Laszlo, 270 ; 
musical tastes, 80 ; moose 
hunt, 254; New Year cards, 
1 10 ; Norwegian hunting-lodge, 
246; picnics, 27, 212; Punch, 
279 ; rebuilding the Saalburg, 
29 ; review at Metz, 145 ; on 



Bornstedter Feld, 61 ; rides 
in Wilhelmshohe, 210 ; safety- 
staircases for opera-house, 85 ; 
silver wedding, 197, 272 ; suf- 
fragettes, 292 ; talk with sol- 
diers, 172 ; tea and Zwieback, 
27; tennis, 211; tile-factory, 
236 ; umbrella of the admiral, 
287 ; visit to Highcliffe, 106, 
264 ; visit to Konigsberg, 256 ; 
Watdmann's Heil, 253, 269 ; 
Windsor, 205, 299 ; women and 
votes, 292 ; women-colonels, 
293. 297 

Witte, Count, 251 

Woolwich Common, 108 

Wright, Orville, 176 

Zeppelin, Count, 179, 300 
Zigelei, 236 



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Printed by Hazell, Watson & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury, England. 



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